Second Sight
by Schizoninjas
Summary: There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.  Millennia later, in a modern day Konoha, Obito meets someone he didn't know he was missing.  AU, ObiKaka.
1. Chapter 1

Second Sight

Quotation in the summary is by Og Mandino.

Enjoy. :)

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_Chapter One_

"Goddamnit!" Obito swore, tripping over an empty beer can on his way to the back door, "I _just _cleaned this yester--" He sighed, shaking his head. It was no use, really. His old man was passed out, snoring, on the sagging couch in the living room and the entire house smelled of stale alcohol. There was no way he was going to get his research paper on Konoha's ancient wars done in here, and he _really_ needed to get a good grade in this class or else his temporary academic probation was going to get a lot less temporary. Muttering to himself, he checked his wallet for the last of the money from his last paycheck only to find it gone. The sight of his empty wallet exasperated Obito to the point where he almost physically fell over. Instead, he cast the man who unfortunately had sired him a look that was at least as dirty as the floor of their living room.

"For a fat bastard who can't get off the couch without needing to catch his breath, you make a hell of a pickpocket," Obito grumbled, resigned to his life as he shoved his wallet back into his pocket and shifted the weight of his backpack on his shoulders. There went studying at a cafe or over dinner. Ah, well. Obito was used to it. There was one place he could still go that was quiet and comforting and gloriously free. _Outside_. Ever since the forests around Konoha had been established as federally protected land, they'd become one of Obito's favorite places to hide because his dad could never find him there and the best stuff happened there. Like he'd turn around and find someone'd left him lunch. Or if he complained loudly that there wasn't enough sun in the clearing, the next day half the canopy would be gone. Obito wasn't big on the faith stuff, with his crap life and all, but he was sure someone was looking out for him in those forests.

"I hope you die in your sleep, Dad!" Obito piped cheerfully the way most children would say 'ittekimasu' as he left out the front door, pointedly leaving it open. If someone wanted to come in, rob his father blind, and murder the old man in his sleep, who was Obito to ruin their plans?

He arrived in his favorite clearing after a pleasant fifteen or so minute walk, in a much better mood already. Everything about this clearing was strange, really. Sometimes he would be walking to the store or the library or school and he would zone out and find himself here instead. Sometimes he would toss and turn at night and not be able to sleep, feeling unrest in his very bones. Like he was bursting with energy, like he needed to get out of the house and just _run_. And sometimes, when his dad locked him out of the house either just to be a dick or because he was too drunk to tell his son wasn't home yet, he would come here and sleep. He would wake up in tears, unbearably sad from a dream he could never remember, and there was always an indent in the grass beside him. Once he found a few silver hairs on his shirt. And even though he always woke up crying, he was also aware that he never slept better than when he spent his nights here.

"Forest spirit guys!" he called as his customary greeting, "I'm just studying for my research paper! Help me not fail my class if you guys can, okay? Then again, you guys do favors, not miracles, yeah?" Then he sat down and dumped out the contents of his bookbag, talking to himself the way people who were usually left to themselves tended to do.

"Alright, so... ninja wars. Boring old guys dying for stupid causes. Why do I always get the retarded topics? Let's see... some guys didn't get along, started killing each other 'cause _that_ fixes everything. Politics politics yada yada. Kids are sent to war. Jesus, why didn't more kids go insane and kill their whole families after? Some... what's this...?" Obito's eyes narrowed as he saw the title to one of the chapters he was skimming, "The Battle of Kannabi Bridge...? Where've I heard th--_ow_!" Obito clamped his hand over his right eye as it began to water, stinging sharply. He blinked, trying to get whatever had gotten in there out, trying hard not to rub it because he _knew_ it made it worse but... but... he wanted to rub it _so bad_.

"Stupid dad and his stupid stepping on my goggles. He knows I need those! But no, he can't tell his son's prescription goggles from the wrong end of his last prostitute. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ dad--" The pain gradually faded, though Obito still couldn't figure out for the life of him what had managed to get in there. It wasn't like there was any wind or anything--

"Right. Battle of something-or-other Bridge. I swear I've..." Obito frowned again, absently rubbing his right eye as he began to read, hoping to jog his memory.

"Pictured above," he read to himself, going for picture captions because those were easier than the huge blocks of text no one cared about, "The young Fourth Hokage with his team..." Obito's grip on his book tightened as he suddenly got a sick feeling in his stomach. It felt like remembering a terrifying childhood dream. He could only remember vague sounds and smells that didn't really remind him of anything except being afraid. He threw down the book before he realized what he was doing, hands shaking as he pulled them back to his chest.

Kannabi Bridge.

Obito's scent was scared, agitated, upset; the look on his face, it kind of _hurt_-- He was shaking. It was-- that was -- that was bad--

_Pictured above, the young Fourth Hokage with his team..._

and there were the four of them smiling out at coming generations -- well, the three of them -- all unknowing of the misery and torment and the horrors that would come to comprise the entirety of each of their short lives before they all ended violently.

A fox padded out from between a couple of trees, into the clearing.

From time to time they appeared around here, lazing on rocks under the moon, making off with bugs, flitting through the undergrowth so fast that they were gone in the space of a blink. Usually the foxes here were of the average orange variety; but there was something different about this one. It seemed a little bigger than foxes usually came. Its fur was a shade of silver-white that almost glowed where the sunlight touched it, and its left eye was squeezed shut; it looked like it might have been in a fight...

The other unusual thing about this fox was the way it simply sat there, seemingly staring in Obito's general direction.

Its tail swished back and forth restlessly.

It was the silver fur casting off the midday sun that caught Obito's attention, flashing in the corner of his vision like the gleam of a blade. Instinctively, Obito's hand went for his right thigh, grasping... nothing? Obito froze, trying to remember what he had just tried to do, staring down at his hands as though they weren't his. Then his gaze snapped up to the strangely colored fox and his felt his breath catch in his throat. Silver fur.

"You," he whispered, licking his lips as though it would make his voice less hoarse, "You... you know what's going on, don't you? You're... you're the one who makes me feel like this. When I sleep here you make me dream those things. And right now... why are you doing this to me? I don't understand! He... he looks just like me. I-- I don't understand."

The fox cocked its head at him silently.

This time around, Obito was Obito. He'd kept his own name... he was eighteen years old and he wasn't dead yet. That never happened. That _never happened_. He should have been dead five years ago, gone at age thirteen, like every other incarnation he'd gone through in the last three thousand years.

But. He wasn't.

Kakashi could almost bring himself to hope. Almost. Maybe...

Just maybe, this would really be it...

Maybe he finally dared to try.

The fox padded over the grass and across the clearing, so silent it almost seemed as if its paws weren't touching the ground. It halted in its leisurely walk as it reached Obito's side, tail still flicking back and forth, a certain nervousness seeming to enter the unconscious gesture. Obito's left hand was resting on his textbook; the fox gently butted against it with its soft, fur-covered head, tentatively licking the back as it looked up into the young man's face, almost seeming to seek approval.

_Don't be sad._

_Touch me... please?_

_Please?_

_Oh god, please..._

Obito blinked at the fox momentarily, trying to decide what to make of the creature's strange behavior. Then he laughed a little bit like a sob and closed his eyes, hand instinctively stroking the animal's soft fur as though he were petting nothing more uncommon than a cat or a dog.

"I... I'm finally losing it," he told the fox as though it were the funniest thing in the world, "All the weird shit that's made up my life is finally driving me off the deep end. I'm _talking_ to some fox-thing that thinks it's a dog. Not only that, I'm accusing it of making me freak out at my textbook. I'm hallucinating myself in my history book. I don't even _like_ history. Jesus, Obito. You're such a piece of work. Now I'm talking about myself in third person. Ugh. I should go ask Shimenawa-sensei if stress can _actually_ make you go insane or if it's just a saying and I'm fucked."

_Don't worry, you're not losing it. It was already lost._

The thought, and the sad, slightly unhinged little laugh that accompanied it, were clearly not Obito's. Yet there they were all of a sudden, sitting in his head, standing out like an eyesore with their bright blood-red flavor among Obito's blue-green-orange-yellow thoughts.

The fox's tail slowed down in its restless movement, a quiet little sound beginning to emanate from the creature that resembled nothing so much as a purr. It seemed to hesitate for a moment before moving to curl up in Obito's lap, lying half on top of his textbook. The fox lay its head down tiredly next to the photo of the smiling Fourth Hokage and his doomed team.

"No, see, the point is _not_ being insane, so that doesn't really help me--" Obito stopped himself, regretfully no sharper in this incarnation than any other. He blinked once, then again.

"Wait." He experimentally prodded the fox curled so contently in his lap.

"Do that again."

He -- really shouldn't have said anything. Really.

He'd learned his lesson. Sharing thoughts was bad -- scarybadno it can't happen again, he wouldn't let it happen, it felt good to be inside Obito's head and he was so much better at it than he had been before _no. _He mustn't he wasn't going to screw this up it was going so nicely he just had to keep it up and be brave and not do bad things and nomoresharing thoughts so--

_No, _he thought at the other boy.

The fox blinked once, and kept staring down at the picture.

"Aw, c'mon! Just one little--" Obito stopped himself once more, "...it _was_ you! Oh thank God, I thought I was starting to hear voices--" The boy paused rather thoughtfully, staring down at the creature in his lap, still absently petting it.

"...not that a freaky fox that can communicate telepathically is much better than hearing voices, but at least it's not me. What's _up_ with you, anyway?" He was still feeling a little anxious, as though he were about to become terrified of something and the only thing stopping him from having an outright anxiety attack was his fear of thinking about whatever made him afraid. Yeah. It was complicated and Obito wasn't used to complicated feelings, nor was he particularly fond of them. But somehow the fox in his lap made him feel better, as though... Something definitely wasn't okay. Something was definitely very, very wrong. But... as long as the strange colored fox stayed, things _could_ be okay. Eventually. Or something. Obito's head was beginning to hurt.

Kakashi didn't really want to answer that question.

It felt so nice, being_ touched _and being _with _someone and and, andbeing _with. Obito_ -- and there was a part of him that wanted to just stay here and be petted, comfort and be comforted until the sun went down and then just vanish back from whence he had come; but really, he'd already begun, there was no point in cowardice now. _but it just felt so good _and not-bad and not-cold and not-by-himself-being-nothing-forever-and-ever-until-Obito-needed-him because he _was _a nothing now but he wanted, _he wanted to be a something _and not-bad and not-hurt and not and that was why he needed to get up and try to answer the question, dammit and stop thinking stupid thoughts and just do it.

After a long moment of silence, in lieu of answering immediately, the fox rose from its place in Obito's lap. It shook itself, seeming a little perturbed, and turned to nuzzle Obito's hand one last time before climbing down, circling around to plop down on the ground right in front of him, leaning over to look at the picture in the textbook again.

It made something in his chest hurt every time he looked at it, so he couldn't help looking again and again.

The fox made a little sound, a quiet huff of breath; one might even have called it a sigh. It looked up at Obito again with its single dark eye, tail flicking back and forth again, and then it glanced away. Its posture seemed almost regretful.

Kakashi took a very, very deep breath.

There was no magical transformation. No noise, no fanfare. One moment there was a little silver-white fox curled up on the grass next to Obito's feet; the next, suddenly, there was a young man with silver-white hair, barefoot, wearing a loose white yukata trimmed in red. His tail still swished restlessly under the crimson hem.

It was there and it was gone again. Obito _hated_ that. The moment Kakashi transformed, in that split second before he realized the little fox had changed, a name, some spark of recognition, flitted through his thoughts and disappeared by the time Obito actually _saw_ Kakashi. The feeling of absence that always hit him when he almost remembered and then lost something that seemed so important filled him and he pressed his hands against his stomach.

"I... I _know_ you," he managed trying to bring the thought back even though he knew it was useless. How many times had he sat alone in his room trying remember why he'd woken up that morning and not recognized where he was? Where he could _almost_ remember what he thought his room was supposed to look like. Or he _almost_ remembered who was supposed to be in the room with him. Or was it a room at all? But he had been alone his entire life. And he never felt more alone than the mornings like that. The memories never came, and they faithfully failed him this time as well.

"You--" Obito's eyes widened, "No, I don't know you, that's not it-- You look... you look like the kid in the picture! Next... to the guy that looks like _me_!"

The other young man looked back down at the textbook again, thoughtfully. It had been a long time since he'd practiced reading upside down. He remembered that one time on that one mission where they were but he was busy. Stop that.

The caption on the picture continued with: _The Fourth Hokage's cell during this period in the war was known as Team Yellow Flash. From L to R: Hatake..._

"Obito, what's your name?" Kakashi asked, absently.

"Huh? Matsudaira Obito-- wait! How did you know my name? ...and why are you asking me if you already know? Is this some freaky kitsune thing, 'cause--" Obito finally followed Kakashi's gaze back to the textbook.

"_Ohmygod_, the kid that looks like me has my name too!" For a moment it looked as though Obito was having an epiphany and then...

"...I don't get it," Obito frowned in a near pout and crossed his arms over his chest, "My dad named me after some dead guy? I didn't even know he could _read_." It was good to know that a few millenia of torment and short, violent existences hadn't really changed the former Uchiha.

The young man in the yukata looked down at his photograph and decided he'd probably needed a haircut.

"My name's Kakashi," he murmured as his gaze flicked upward to meet Obito's face again. "Hatake Kakashi."

There was something just a little apprehensive in his placid, quiet expression; he pulled his knees in a little closer, curled up a little more.

"Hi," he said to Obito's soul.

The other boy shuddered a little as the simple, single syllable left the fox demon's lips, very briefly closing his eyes. It felt a little bit like... he'd just gone out to the store, and while he was at the store, it started to rain. The rain was very, very cold and pounded very, very hard. On the way home, he had gotten lost. Very, very lost. Until he didn't remember where home was. And then someone had taken his hand and lead him back home again, and home had been right around the corner all along and there had simply been too much rain for him to see. And right now, _right now_, Obito had come in from the very long walk in the very cold rain. _And it was warm_. He buried his face in his hands.

"Kakashi," he repeated, quietly. The name felt familiar. He wrapped his arms around himself as well, though he knew somewhere inside his very conflicted self that it wasn't himself he wanted to be holding.

"I want--..." he broke off, shaking his head. It was almost like a memory, this urgency that filled him.

"I _need_..."

Obito opened his arms, doing his best not to think. _How_ and _why_ meant very little right now. Because it was warm again, and the world made just enough sense that Obito didn't precisely care how or why.

Kakashi's dark eye widened, and from under a tangle of messy silver hair there was a glint of red.

A moment later Obito's arms were full of fox, or boy, or man, or whatever he was. A single whimper drifted up to Obito's ears as Kakashi's arms wrapped around him, so tightly it felt like they might never come off again, and Kakashi buried his face against the other boy's neck, rocking them back and forth reflexively and trying to ignore the tears. He still had his pride.

"Obito... oh god... oh god oh god oh god oh god..." He kept mumbling it to himself reflexively and he was probably pissing off all the other more-than-one gods but he couldn't-- _think-- _he was thinking a million zillion googol things at once so he couldn't _think _them and definitely couldn't say any of -- "You remembered -- something -- about--- you really really--" The words never got more coherent than a mumble, so it was unlikely Obito could understand any of them.

but he still needed to -- explain something -- maybe -- yes -- there was -- when he could _think, _then all the other stuff...

oh, god, how many _hundreds _of years had it been.

"Shhh," Obito whispered, shaking his head, "You're gonna give yourself a headache like I did. It's... okay, yeah? Feels better, right? So... The making sense stuff can come later, I guess?" That was how it felt. As soon as the words left Obito's lips, he realized it. Holding Kakashi... it didn't feel familiar at all, didn't feel like it was something he had ever done, but it made everything _feel better_. Like a warm cookie and a cold glass of milk. Like a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Like peanut butter and Doritos. Things that just weren't okay by themselves but _together_, made the world a better place. He could almost physically feel himself... _recharging_. There really wasn't any other word for it. He felt like he was slowly waking up from a long and unpleasant dream, and all he had to do was hold on to Kakashi.

"Kakashi..." he repeated, mostly to himself, trying out the name again. It definitely felt familiar, though something still seemed a little off about the way he said it. As though it would sound _more_ familiar if he... yelled it? What an odd notion.

"Say it again..." came the plea, mumbled against Obito's skin. Kakashi's rocking motion had gradually slowed and then ceased, and now he was just shaking slightly as he held on, still seeming to cling for dear life. "Not real yet... it's not..."

He trailed off, and after a moment he'd pushed himself away from Obito's body a little, wearing an expression of slightly dazed horror as he stared in the general direction of the other young man's chest. Both of his eyes were open now. The one that had been hiding behind his hair was the same bright, intense red as the trim on his yukata. Something seemed a little off about it; it looked like it had more than one pupil, and it didn't seem to be focusing quite right as Kakashi sat there, gaze far away for a moment, hands fisting in the other boy's clothing.

"Maybe I'm not really here..." His eyes widened; he looked quite young and terrified as his tear-streaked face turned up to seek out Obito's gaze. "Say it again?" he begged, high-pitched voice on the verge of breaking.

"K-kakashi...?" Obito's shock registered clearly in his voice as he watched the other boy in his arms go near hysterical. And then he felt something. Something _profound_.

He was _worth _something. He wasn't just the accident that happened while his father was drunk. He wasn't just the worst day of his mother's life. He wasn't just some poor sap doomed to live out his life in futility. He _meant_ something to someone. He was a part of something that was bigger than himself. Kakashi needed him, wanted him, cared about him for reasons that Obito could almost grasp but knew he could never fathom. He brushed away Kakashi's tears with the back of his hand, slowly, fingers lingering near the mismatched crimson eye with something not unlike recognition.

"_Kakashi_," he whispered, "You're here. You're definitely here. And I'm here. Right... _here_." Obito caught another tear right at the corner of Kakashi's eye, before it had a chance to fall.

Kakashi gave a little shiver at the feather-light brushes of Obito's skin against his face, keeping the tears from falling. He couldn't even remember the last time...

"I'm... here?" He looked down at himself, suddenly unsure not only of whether he was where he thought he was, but whether he was in general. Having more than one physical form made it so confusing -- quick check -- "I'm... here," he stated experimentally, running a hand over his chest, splaying fingers against his face. "I'm here," he murmured to himself with more conviction this time, nodding slightly, before his gaze turned back toward Obito's face. He just stared for a moment, disbelieving Obito, disbelieving himself -- it couldn't really be real, it couldn't, but it was, he'd really worked up the nerve and _done _it--

"...You're here. You're _here_... _We're _here-- we're _both _here--" He gave another slightly unhinged little laugh, this one coming out more than half a sob. But there was a smile on his face. A small, wavering, sweet and beautiful smile.

"And it only took three thousand years," he murmured unsteadily, and laughed again, quiet and a little nervous. At first, Obito simply smiled, well, rather, beamed radiantly back. Because, really, how could he look at that watery little, absolutely _perfect _(perfect? where did that come from...?) smile on Kakashi's lips and not smile back? But then--

"Three thousand... _what_?"


	2. Chapter 2

Second Sight

Something it should've occurred to us to mention last time: fox!Kakashi is loosely based on mythological foxes (i.e. the Chinese huli jing and Japanese kitsune); we're considering him a separate species from Kyuubi, who is a bijuu/Tailed Beast, which we assume makes him something different. We suggest looking up kitsune and huli jing on Google/Wikipedia if you're curious.

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_Chapter Two_

"Three thousand... _what_?"

Obito was absolutely gaping at Kakashi.

It wasn't that he didn't believe him. The pictures from a war that happened several thousand years ago with people who looked just like them with more or less the same names as them, this here and now, all of those half memories that had plagued Obito all his life--they added up, somehow. But Obito wasn't exactly a fountain of self esteem, so he could not begin to understand why someone would spend three thousand years looking for _him_. Sure, he was a pretty decent catch. Charming, excellent smile, loyal, very cuddly, too old fashioned to even begin to think about cheating on you--but three _thousand_ years? Even if Obito were a vain man, he still wouldn't even consider spending that much time trying to find someone. Then again, Kakashi did seem a little bit lacking in the rational-thought, sanity, and grasp-on-reality departments. It worried Obito a little.

"...I think you're going to have to explain what's going on in real words now, or I'm going to need a couple bottles of headache medicine."

"I um." Explanations. Right. Obito deserved them. Kakashi was going to give them. Kakashi had _planned _on giving them as a matter of fact because how else was Obito supposed to know anything about the war and how the rock and his bones were crushed into little bits that all came apart and he squirted out blood on the stone like a big human flesh balloon and half his skull cracked into little tiny eggshell pieces and his right frontal brain lobe got squished and crushed and stomped on and ground into brain bits and his eyeball popped and squished and crushed and his eyeball bled and bled and bled and went into Kakashi's

He leaned forward abruptly to bury his face against Obito again, and took ahold of the other boy's shirt and squeezed hard and stared at the weave of the fabric in front of his eyes until he could stop hyperventilating.

"U-um. Okay. Real words. I, um." He didn't move from his place as he tried to start again, being as careful as he could of what he thought about this time.

"You. He. Died." He gestured toward where he thought he remembered the history book landing, still without looking up.

"I missed you so, much... and... but... there... You died..." He'd gone back to mumbling a little again, half-forgetting he was speaking for an audience. "Always died... we never..."

Kakashi paused to take another deep breath; he seemed a tad bit calmer when he began speaking again.

"I just wanted to see you... so bad... I begged and begged and when I... came back the next time, I was a fox." He was quiet again for a moment.

"It's been... so many generations... many many many many... many..." He trailed off into a mumble, and made what could only be termed a quietly hysterical little giggle. "You _did _see the future. Lots and lots and lots..."

"O..okay," Obito nodded uncertainly, trying to follow Kakashi's incredibly sporadic train of thought. Something to do with reincarnation, which made sense. Something about them never seeing each other, which Obito suspected would make more sense if he'd ever studied reincarnation. And then there was the obvious point that even Obito couldn't have missed if he _tried_. Kakashi had, had a great deal of time to lose his mind. The realization made Obito abruptly glad that he could not actually remember anything of his past lives. With how much even the echoes of his memories eroded at his sanity, he imagined actually _remembering_ would probably make him worse off than Kakashi. And then he felt the strange sensation that maybe he wasn't just imagining that remembering would make him go completely out of his mind. He killed the thought then and there.

"I... saw the future...?" he asked instead, wondering if there was even a point in asking, with the way Kakashi was about explaining things... He shrugged to himself and brought his arms around Kakashi agan. Because for reasons he couldn't exactly put into words, he felt as though he had to protect the other boy.

Kakashi nodded matter-of-factly, pulling in his legs a little to curl up close against Obito's body, tail swishing against the other boy's lap.

_"As your eye, I'll see the future," _he murmured, in Obito's own voice, causing the other boy to stare and clutch at his throat. He even briefly wondered if he tried speaking now, whether he would sound like Kakashi. Or maybe his voice wouldn't be there at all. Kakashi was silent for a long while, which was lucky considering Obito was busy feeling himself up in confusion.

"Kept it all this time," came Kakashi's voice again at last. He sounded somehow a little more lucid than before, now that the shock and euphoria of it all was beginning to even out a little. "Through however many lifetimes... don't know how, but, I kept it."

The three tomoe of the Sharingan turned slowly. Kakashi's tail slowed to a calm sort of flick.

"Whoa, wait, that's _mine_?" Obito gaped, feeling the hairs at the back of his neck bristle. It was a crazy thing to say. Absolutely _insane_. (Then again, it _was_ Kakashi talking, but...) He reached for his history book, flipping through his pages for something he knew he probably wasn't going to find.

"_Dude_, where are they keeping all the cool parts of history? Next research paper I'm going to do _me_," he awed to himself, shaking his head as he found that information about Team Yellow Flash was limited to the picture and a brief summary of their role in the war. One of Obito's virtues was his ability to absorb shock at just the right pace so he seemed to take most things very well.

"Well... at least I know I can loan you things and you won't lose them like that one weird kid with the ugly sunglasses who lives down the street," Obito offered after a moment of almost thoughtful silence, not really knowing what to say. Because what was else there to say? 'So we were something apparently very sketchy together a few thousand years ago and, oh my, it seems we were also both male at the time. And somehow you ended up with possession of one of my eyes and at some point or another you completely lost your mind.' Yeah, Obito liked what he went with a lot better. Though, the question _was_ kind of haunting him...

"Uh. What exactly were we... doing back... _then_?" Obito made a vague gesture at the history book.

"Blowing up a bridge," Kakashi answered gamely, still looking down at the photograph. The text on the page next to it was a summary of the later stages of the ancient Third Great Ninja World War; Kannabi Bridge had been an important strategic turning point which garnered about a page of explanation, of which Team Yellow Flash's role in destroying the eponymous bridge received two or three paragraphs. _The death of Uchiha Obito during this raid led to widespread questioning of the future Yondaime's motives by the Uchiha clan, _read one of the final sentences; but the book neglected to explain what motives were being questioned or why. Apparently its authors had felt such subjects were not acceptable study material for young college students.

"Okay, that's cool," Obito nodded, "I like blowing stuff up. But I'm pretty sure blowing up something together isn't the kind of thing that makes a guy devote his next thousand or so lifetimes looking for another guy. So, uh, what _else_ were we doing?"

Kakashi glanced confusedly between Obito and the textbook for a moment -- and then a second later it seemed to click, and there was no mistaking the hint of a flush on his pale cheeks as he scowled up at the other boy, making an expression that in another lifetime Obito would have found very familiar.

"We were _thirteen, _we didn't do anything more than kiss," came the embarrassed protest. After a moment, though, his discomfort seemed to evaporate as he blinked downward with a thoughtful frown. "Was I thirteen? Anyway." He gave a disdainful sniff as he shifted in place against Obito's chest.

'_Don't freak out,_' Obito thought to himself, going rather still as he took it all in, '_Don't freak out don't freak out don't freak out. I saw this coming. I was thirteen and I got killed somehow in a stupid war and I was doing something with some guy I was with. But it was only kissing. Don't freak out. Don't freak out don't freak out don't freak out--_'

"God _damnit_!" he swore when he finally couldn't hold it back anymore, giving the world in general his most disgruntled pout, "I was out in the middle of nowhere, fighting in some war, with someone as hot as you and I still died a _virgin_? That _blows_! You'd think if I was old enough to kill people I'd be old enough to get into someone's pants."

...Obito's main concerns were never quite the same as everyone else's.

"Well, we were sort of preoccupied with trying not to get killed and stuff." Kakashi blinked down at Obito's shirt front, reminiscing. "You were kind of a sucky ninja," he informed the other boy with a fond, weirdly dreamy sort of smile. His tail swished back and forth over Obito's legs some more, peeking out from under his yukata to brush against the bottom hem of Obito's shirt.

"_What?_" Obito demanded in a very familiar manner, crossing his arms firmly over his chest, "I don't believe you. I would've been an _amazing_ ninja. I rock everything I do. _Everything_. I bet you couldn't even keep up with me and that's why we never got anywhere." Though, deep down, Obito suspected Kakashi had a very good point. After all, he was the one who died so he must not have been very good at keeping himself alive. But he was Obito. Admitting to his shortcomings just wouldn't be very _him_.

He stopped for a moment then, feeling Kakashi's tail tickle against his stomach, and he turned his gaze down to look at it. Obito was abruptly reminded that Kakashi was very not human, though how he ever managed to forget was quite the mystery. Almost as though he were used to thinking of Kakashi as being someone just like him. Without really thinking about it, he reached down and stroked the bushy silver fur.

"Yep, you're right." Kakashi's smile just widened more, blissful, at the other boy's indignant protest, and he felt vaguely disappointed that he couldn't quite bring himself to keep going; but it was nice just hearing those words. That was an argument he'd been waiting several millennia to have again.

And then of a sudden he felt a pleasurable little shiver going up his spine, and blinked down curiously to see his tail sticking out further from under his clothing, and Obito's hand petting it softly. He made a little noise of pleasure as his body gradually relaxed against the other young man's, mismatched eyes drifting closed despite himself. He hadn't felt this nice in a... maybe never. He couldn't remember a time quite like it, and he remembered an awful lot of things.

Maybe... maybe... maybe it was really going to work this time.

Maybe. Maybe.

"Obito," he said the other boy's name, just because he could.

"Mm...?" Obito asked in return, sounding a little bit distracted, focus on the other's tail. He could feel Kakashi relax against him, coming to realize how starved for affection the kitsune was.

"You..." he mumbled in a sullen, strained sort of way as though he himself were in pain on Kakashi's behalf, "You've been alone a very long time, haven't you?" And because his heart ached for Kakashi, ached until his entire right side (nevermind that your heart's on the _left_ side, Obito...) hurt with it, because it felt like the right thing to do, because Obito inexplicably wanted to, he found Kakashi's chin with one hand and tilted his head up to face him. Then, drawing in a deep breath before quickly releasing it, he closed his own eyes and pressed their lips together before he had a chance to lose his nerve. It wasn't like he'd never kissed another boy before, wasn't as though kisses weren't something he gave freely. But it was different somehow, with Kakashi. It meant something. And the moment their lips met, Obito _felt_ something. Like a painful, sharp tug on his soul.

It was far more than Kakashi had dared to hope for. His eyes shot open at the sudden pressure of lips against his own, and for a moment it was all he could handle just to stare at Obito in utter disbelief, thoughts racing through his mind faster than he could catch any of them. He managed at least to keep from crying as he returned the kiss almost frantically, a single strangled sound escaping from low in his throat that was some combination of unfathomable pain and perfect, giddy happiness. His arms slid around Obito's back again and he pressed against the other boy as tightly as if he was trying to meld the two of them together.

And then it was impossible for Obito to pull away, impossible for him to even humor the thought. He wanted to... wanted to... He held the kiss until it dizzied him with such heart-wrenching _feeling_ that he physically felt his breath leave him. Then he brought his lips close to Kakashi's ear and whispered with all of his being, spoke the words with more certainty than he had known before in his life.

"_I'm here, Kakashi. I'm sorry I forgot everything. I'm sorry you had to do this all alone_," he paused, briefly, to graze his lips against Kakashi's temple, "_I'll make it up to you, promise._" He began to say something else, the beginning of a promise to never let Kakashi be alone again on his lips, but the words died somewhere in his throat. A chill seized Obito and he shivered as an uninvited thought crossed his mind.

'_Don't make promises you can't keep_.'

Obito's grip on Kakashi tightened as he inhaled sharply. Why was he suddenly so terrified? Obito wasn't that kind of guy. He was someone who was sure he could change the world if he put his mind to it. He was Matsudaira (...Uchiha?) Obito! He could do anything! ...so why did this terrify him to his very core? Why did it feel as though Kakashi was about to... go somewhere far away? Why did it feel as though Kakashi was going to take the better half of who Obito was with him?

"...I'll stay with you," he whispered instead, voice cracking slightly as he spoke, "I'll... I'll stay with you."

'_As long as I can._'

Kakashi had never been the overly articulate type, even before his mind had truly snapped; as things stood now, the feelings coursing through him as he clung tight against Obito's chest were so deep and nameless and fathomless he could never have put words to them if he'd tried. He had just enough presence of mind to be vaguely annoyed with himself when the tears returned, and shuddered against the other boy's body as he sobbed with happiness and fear and a relief so deep it turned to become pain again.

"Tell me about us," Obito breathed into Kakashi's ear, feeling his own chest constrict with tears he could not quite bring himself to shed. He had spent so long learning not to cry that it almost went against his nature to give in. So, instead, he choked them back and held Kakashi to him, stroking the other boy's hair and back, and very softly begged him to tell him about the life he had forgotten, the person he had been. About what forged the (obsession?) love that held on for the past three thousand years. What had happened in so brief a time (they had only been thirteen, after all) to have Kakashi so desperately seeking him again? The answer was important, somehow... And troubling. Obito was sure the answer would trouble him, as though he was reading a book again after a very long time and saw a character's name he could not entirely remember and yet somehow, _somehow_ he was sure something bad was going to happen to him.

Kakashi heard, but couldn't manage to speak through the tears; he tried his best to focus on the here and now, the weave of the cloth of Obito's shirt under his fingers, the rhythmic pressure of the other boy's hand petting him, and gradually his crying slowed and stopped as he managed to calm himself a little. He felt exhausted as he lay there, leaning his weight against Obito without really thinking about it, breathing raggedly. It was a while before he found himself capable of saying anything.

"We hated each other," he murmured at last, looking out toward the glade, gaze turning far, far away.

"And... you were always late and I was a prick. And one time I tied you to a tree. And we got a bonus 'cos the lady thought your fireball jutsu was pretty. And you liked ramen and stupid comic books and you made me promise not to do anything stupid. And you died for me," he murmured, distantly.

"That... that sounds about right," Obito managed, laughing weakly despite the heaviness in his heart, "I'm still always late for everything except work 'cause if I get fired again I'll have to live in a cardboard box. I still like ramen and stupid comic books and I still pretty much like it when my friends don't do stupid things. And I still don't like being tied to trees, I'm pretty sure." Died for him. None of it made sense until right then. It was wartime and they had been just kids, doing things kids should never be asked to do.

"It couldn't have been so bad," Obito grinned faintly, patting Kakashi on the back, "If I died saving your ass, I probably got to die staring at your unfairly pretty mug, yeah? Not a bad way to go, if you have to go at thirteen. Still, Kakashi... what led to all this? Most people get over their high school crushes, yeah? You--" He suddenly frowned, feeling another chill pass through him.

"You didn't do this to yourself because you loved me that much, did you?" Obito asked quietly, voice taut.

Kakashi didn't answer the question; he didn't quite register that it was meant to be answered at all. He was still staring off across the clearing, watching something only he could see.

"You couldn't stare at anything when you died," he murmured, blank-faced. He began to pull away from Obito a little bit, curling in on himself, arms slipping away from the other boy to twine instinctively around his own chest. Why was he touching Obito again...? What made him think he even had the right? After how stupid he'd been? After everythingwaswronghewaswrong it was all wrong he shouldn't have died _he _should have died why was he so stupid why was _he _so stupid why did everyone go away...

"You couldn't see... you couldn't see anything... she closed your eyelid..." he mumbled, gaze drifting slowly downward.

"You couldn't..."

Obito didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to react or what to say or how to make things better. He didn't know what to do. He _hated_ not knowing what to do. He stared after Kakashi, trying to follow his line of sight, trying to see the ghosts of their past that only Kakashi was burdened with. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Why did Kakashi have to bear this alone? What could he possibly have done to deserve this? Obito had to fix things. How? How could he--

"Kakashi, stop," Obito commanded, voice gentle but firm. It was a tone almost entirely alien to him. He reached out and took both of Kakashi's hands in his, gripping them tightly. He locked his gaze with Kakashi's eyes and willed Kakashi to look back at him.

"Kakashi, look at me. _Listen_ to me," he repeated the words quietly from his memory, quietly so that Kakashi would have to pay attention to hear.

"This isn't your fault."

'_This isn't your fault,_' _Shimenawa-sensei told the seven year old Obito, holding the child's scraped and bruised hands, 'None of this is your fault.'_

"None of this is your fault."

_'Your dad makes his own decisions. He makes his own mistakes. He chose to do this. No one can make that choice for him but him. Don't _ever _feel bad for the things he's done.'_

"I made my own decisions. I made my own mistakes. I chose to do what I did. No one could've made those choices for me but me. Don't _ever_ feel bad for what I did." Obito closed his eyes briefly, then brought one of Kakashi's hands to his lips, pressing a kiss into the palm.

"Don't feel guilty anymore, okay? If I was anything like the way I am now, I did exactly what I wanted to, when I wanted to, and no one could've stopped me from doing it. So you can stop now. Move on or whatever. You don't have to chase after me any longer, okay?"

...Sensei. That was so much Sensei it hurt -- and the firm way Obito held his hands, his soft voice -- Kakashi couldn't help paying attention, and gradually the blood and the rocks and the guilthurtwrong faded into a background murmur; and he stared at the other young man and tried to process just what he was really saying.

It was always his fault -- he knew it was all the way down to his pinky toes, no matter how much anybody (who was Sensei) said otherwise -- but that wasn't the important part.

He could feel the euphoria of earlier draining out of him like water out of a popped balloon, spilling out all over the ground right down to the very last drop. He felt shaky.

"...Should I go away?" he didn't want to ask, but did, with slightly wide eyes and an unsteady voice, because if Obito didn't want him around there really wasn't anything that mattered more than that.

"Only if you want to," Obito answered in his most fountain-of-wisdom tone, trying his best to answer the way Shimenawa-sensei would answer, because his knee-jerk reaction was to say no and beg Kakashi to stay because when Kakashi was around everything felt warm and good and right and Obito didn't want to go back to his craptastic life, doomed to work retail and then in a best case scenario go and spend the rest of his life as an accountant. He _really, really_ didn't want that. But he hadn't spent the last three thousand years of his life guilt tripping himself and tormenting himself and living in a perpetual, personal hell. Kakashi deserved to do what _he_ wanted now, and if Obito had to spend the next six or seven decades of his life crunching numbers for Kakashi to be happy, so be it. It wasn't quite as dramatic as pining to be with someone for three thousand years, but Obito felt it was still a sufficient sacrifice to make.

"Do whatever makes you happy, okay? No more feeling obligated. And if you insist on feeling guilty, I'll have you know I want to find someone who'll love me even when I'm old and don't have any teeth, love me even if I work a shit job in retail, love me even if the best we can do is live in a crap apartment and do nothing but scrape by the rest of our lives. I want someone who I'll be so in love with and will be so in love with me that even if our TV only gets two channels and the shower only has cold water, we won't care because we can keep each other entertained and we'll heat up that shower so much the room'll be steamy by the time we're done," Obito nodded sagely with a slight grin, "I deserve that. Because I'm awesome. So someone who sticks around 'cause he's too guilty to leave won't cut it. Got it? So whatever you want to do, do it. As long as you want to do it 'cause it's gonna make you happy."

Foxes did not normally wag their tails, but in Kakashi's defense, he'd grown up as more of a dog.

"Oh, good," he murmured, daring to smile a tiny bit, in relief. After a little while, he moved closer again, tentatively reaching out a hand to grasp one of Obito's own. When that wasn't rebuffed, he worked up his courage and, mismatched eyes flicking up briefly toward Obito's face, took the liberty of leaning against his chest again.

He wasn't so sure about the happy thing and the love thing, but want, he could manage. And all the other stuff about TV and showers and scraping and. Stuff.

"I don't want to," he murmured in answer to the very first thing Obito had said, ignoring all the in-between stuff for just a moment. The first part was the most important anyway.

Obito nodded with a relieved smile even as he yawned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand before winding his arms around Kakashi once more. Man, all that crying had made him _tired_.

"Hey, Kakashi...?" he asked as he bit back another yawn, "You don't mind if I, like, crash for a little bit, do you? I need to nap a little or something before I try to write my paper again."

"Mm." If just playing comforter to all that crying had tired Obito out, that much moreso Kakashi, who had been the one actually doing it. "'m tired too. Face hurts," he declared with a little frown, snuggling up closer to Obito only to tug them both over onto their sides in the grass. Kakashi turned his gaze upward, and suddenly the canopy of trees ringed around them seemed closer somehow, casting them into dappled shade where before they had been sitting in sunshine.

"Go to sleep, Obito. It's nice outside," he murmured, closing his eyes.

"Mmhm..." Obito answered blearily, carefully folding Kakashi into his arms. He studied the other's boy's face a little while and got the feeling that Kakashi was going to turn him into one of those creepy guys who liked to watch other people sleep. Then, smiling still, he closed his eyes as well and drifted off into a deep, healing sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Second Sight

_Chapter Three_

There was nothing like waking up to sunshine and birds singing and dew clinging to his eyelashes and grass tickling his cheek, a warm and soft body in his arms. Slowly, he opened his eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight that filled the clearing. As soon as his vision cleared, he looked down at the boy in his arms and smiled. Today felt like it was going to be a good day. He watched Kakashi sleep for a few long moments, watching the slight rise and fall of his chest, the way his tail was curled around his leg, the way he looked completely at peace with the world. Then Obito shook his head rather happily and leaned down, planting a firm but sweet kiss on Kakashi's slightly parted lips to rouse him.

"Morning, Kakashi."

The kitsune's eyes blinked open, and Kakashi looked confused for a moment until his mismatched gaze rose to meet Obito's face. It was warm and the sky was blue and there was Obito and he felt lazy and languid and really, really good... He gave Obito a vague smile and thought to himself that this was a really nice dream, and then he remembered it was actually reality and the smile grew wider.

His tail flicked out behind him as he stretched luxuriously in the grass. He was probably getting green stains all over his white yukata, but that was okay, he could take care of them. Being a several-thousand-year-old fox demon had its occasional perks.

"Hi," he remembered to say after a bit, still rather giddy with the..._realness _of it all.

"Hi," Obito laughed back, rolling onto his stomach so he could better look at Kakashi. This was so... _perfect_. Perfect in ways Obito had never dreamed about. The sun, the fair weather, the company. Nothing was missing, everything was there. It seemed too good to be true, such a beautiful morning--

--wait. _Morning_? It was late evening when they went to sleep. The sun was beginning to set. Why was it morning? Why was--

"Oh _fuck_!" Obito swore, eyes widening. He sat up so quickly he was sure he strained something, "Oh crap oh crap oh crap _my research paper_! It's due today! My GPA! I'm going to get kicked out of college I'm going to live my life out in a cardboard box-- Oh god! I have to go-- Oh, shit, Shimenawa-sensei is going to give me that _look_ that crushes the souls of small children when he hears! But otherwise I'm going to get kicked out of college! And live in a cardboard box! Or _worse_, I'll have to live with my dad! I gotta go. I gotta go _right now_."

..._Shimenawa-sensei._

Kakashi would have followed him anyway, but that settled it. He rose and shook himself a little as Obito was busy panicking, and a moment later a little fox was standing there again where there had once been a boy. He leaped up uninvited to curl around Obito's shoulders, short claws providing just enough traction to get ahold of the young man's shirt.

"...you're just lucky everyone in the village thinks I'm weird to the point where me strolling in with a freaky pet fox on my shoulders wouldn't earn me a second glance," Obito told Kakashi dryly as he shoved all of his books haphazardly back into his bag, not caring what went in what order or what got creased.

"Hold on," he muttered before he booked it out of the clearing at speeds that would've made their old Genin sensei proud.

Not more than six, seven minutes later, Obito was standing in front of the front door to a pediatric office, knocking loudly on the door.

"Shimenawa-sensei! Open the door! I know you're in there! Stop color-coding your candies and come help me! It's a life or death situation! _Life or death!_"

"Obitoooo, it's eight thirty in the morning," came the pout from the other side of the door.

Shimenawa-sensei's office opened at 10 AM, because Shimenawa-sensei was the kind of person who liked to goof off as much as he could conceivably get away with; but he always opened up for a real emergency, and he always opened up for Matsudaira Obito.

"If no one's dying, come in and make me coffee and tell me what's the matter," he said as he opened up the door. He took in Obito's backpack and the fox curled around his shoulders with a bemused expression -- was it looking back at him? -- and stepped aside for Obito to come in without asking any further questions. With Obito, there usually wasn't a need to ask questions.

"Owowow_hey_," Obito complained to the fox on his shoulder as he felt those little claws dig into his shoulder just fraction more. They were sharp, damnit. "Watch those!" he scolded with a pout, then sucked in a breath as he remembered why he was here.

"Sensei!" he whimpered as he scampered over to the coffee maker to make his favorite pediatrician (and possibly person) in the world his morning coffee as per their custom. He cast Shimenawa-sensei pathetic, hurt looks over his shoulder even as he measured out the water and the coffee to the best of his ability.

"See, I've got this _huge_ research paper due and you know how I'm already on academic probation, right?" he began as he hit the 'on' button for the coffee maker so he could turn around and unleash the full fury of his wounded puppy looks on the good doctor.

"So anyway, I can't screw this one up or I'm _dead_ like... call in the Buddhist monks I'm moving on to the next life dead. And I got landed with this _really stupid _subject about some stupid ninja war and then my dad was drunk and snoring and I couldn't focus and _then_ I found out he'd lifted the rest of my money for booze so I had no money so I went to the forest to study and then this stupid fox happened to me and oh Shimenawa-sensei, it was _so weird_ but anyway I ended up laying down for a nap and I didn't wake up until this morning and now my paper's due like _today_ and my class is at four and I'm so dead!" Obito's lung capacity was truly great and impressive. He paused for breath.

"Which stupid ninja war is this?" Shimenawa wondered brightly, pulling a pair of mugs out of a cabinet and going to fetch the sugar and creamer. Coffee without sugar was illegal in Shimenawa-sensei land. "And how long's the paper?" There was definitely something off about the fox, he'd decided; its chakra was a little funny and it kept giving him looks whenever it thought he wasn't paying attention. And what was it that Obito had found so weird?

Shimenawa had learned to be wary of foxes.

"Eight pages double spaced," Obito groaned, "And I don't know, the one this book covers." He pulled out said book and set it down on the nearest flat surface so he could flip through and find out which war he was supposed to look up. Which was an indication of how hopeless Obito's cause was all on its own, actually.

"The, uh, Third Great Ninja War--sorry, _World_ War," he read, then happened to glance at the picture of the Yondaime's team again. The Fourth Hokage actually looked an awful lot like--... _no way_.

"Uh, Shimenawa-sensei," Obito began slowly, glancing from his book to his teacher rather rapidly, "You ever notice that, uh, the Yondaime Hokage looks... an awful lot like you?"

_Why yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Every time I look in the mirror. _Shimenawa smiled good-naturedly, looking down at the old photograph printed on the textbook's page. He remembered the day they'd taken that one -- it had been sunny and windy outside and Rin had brought the most delicious obentou...

"He does, at that," the doctor agreed, sounding amused. "Maybe I'm a descendant. That would be kind of neat. 'Honored Scion of the Great Fourth Hokage' has a nice ring to it," he mused, grinning with genuine good humor as he stroked his chin in mock thought.

"So before I use my mad awesome doctor powers to try and save you from term paper hell, can I ask a question?" It seemed best to get Obito's thoughts off the subject of how similar his teacher looked to the ancient Fourth Hokage, just in case. He nodded toward the animal still curled around Obito's neck. "Just what is up with the fox?" he wondered perplexedly. "What was so weird about it? Do you have a new pet now?" he asked, grinning.

Obito looked a little disappointed that Shimenawa-sensei didn't know whether or not he was a descendant of the Yondaime. People should really keep better records of those kinds of things. Then again, it _had_ been a long time. Obito lit up again at the mention of the fox.

"Pet? Yeah, kinda. I mean, the fact it's just chillin' on my shoulders is weird enough, isn't it?" he glanced over at Kakashi, trying to ask if it was okay to confide in Shimenawa-sensei without being too obvious about it in case Kakashi was into the whole secrecy thing. It felt weird, though. Obito'd never kept anything from Shimenawa-sensei since the day they met, not even his darkest, most humiliating and raw secrets.

"And it's a funny color," he added, still staring into Kakashi's eyes, expression focused. He was still thinking of how to ask without mouthing the words or something. Because that was being obvious. But he couldn't think of anything else. It was so hard to be Obito sometimes.

_It's okay, _came little red thoughts creeping into Obito's head again, vanishing almost as soon as they had come. Kakashi could take a hint, especially such an obvious one (to a shinobi, anyway).

He didn't need to, but he licked Obito's nose to go with it, just because he could.

Obito immediately wrinkled his nose and rubbed the wet away, fighting the ticklish sensation that made him want to sneeze.

"Awesome!" he grinned out loud, then turned back to Shimenawa-sensei. He'd momentarily forgotten that when Kakashi spoke in his head, only he could hear it.

"Okay, so I'm in the field reading my history book, right? And please don't think I'm crazy. Well, if you do think I'm crazy let me know because I'm not actually entirely sure this hasn't been one huge hallucination. You know how I have all those dreams I can't remember and those half-memory things, right?" Obito began to try to explain. Sometimes Shimenawa-sensei seemed a lot more like Obito's shrink than anything else, but that was just how close Obito was with the other. Telling Shimenawa-sensei things always made him feel better.

"So yeah, I'm reading my book and all the sudden this little thing comes out of nowhere! Well, first I kinda freaked out looking at the chapter of the book about some bridge battle of some sort because reading it made me feel nauseous and ill and something got in my eye 'cause Dad broke my goggles. Anyway. This fox comes running out and makes me feel better and I pet it and then, yeah, here's the part that starts getting kinda acid trippy. He turns into this really hot guy! And he talks to me in my head. And he tells me his name is Kakashi and that we apparently go way back, like three thousand years ago back. And we both look like the two guys in that picture in the book. I'm definitely the more attractive one but that's not the point. The point is he's been trying to get to me for like the last three thousand years because," Obito paused to glare at the fox on his shoulder, "his guilty ass couldn't square my death with himself. Oh, yeah, apparently I died for him in a past life. Isn't that so cool and heroic? I always knew I was cool and heroic. So yeah, we did a lot of crying. Mostly him, weepy bastard. I didn't cry. But man, watching him cry was exhausting that we went to sleep and _that's_ how I got into this mess but I am _not_ telling my history professor that because she already thinks I'm crazy." Pause. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Shimenawa's eyes were very wide. The fox was not looking in his direction anymore. It was staring off at a wall, with its one dark eye, its right eye...

"Um, you know, Obito..." The man who had once been the Fourth Hokage almost never had to fake a smile, but there were always exceptions to the rule. He was looking a little strained, all of a sudden. "This is one you probably shouldn't go around telling people. This fox... I don't suppose you have a way to prove...?"

It -- wasn't really possible -- it couldn't be. Kakashi wasn't -- Kakashi had --

The fox hopped off Obito's shoulders very abruptly, landing on all fours on the carpet and padding uncertainly a few paces in the direction of the nearest corner.

"You think I'm crazy. Yeah, I'm definitely not telling people except you this story. Because I'd like to not be locked up in the psych ward. Then again, that'll be better than living in the cardboard box I'm going to have to move into once I get kicked out of college. Oh well. That's okay. I'm pretty sure I'm crazy too. I'd be more sure I was crazy if this fox wasn't--_hey_," Obito paused from sounding just a little bit hysterical to watch as Kakashi jumped off his shoulder and began walking away, "Where are you going? I just made myself look like more of a crazy person! Do... do the transforming thing or something!"

The fox didn't stop until it reached a corner, where it flopped against the carpet and curled up in a ball, tail touching its nose. Shimenawa watched it for a moment, with an old, familiar sadness tightening in his chest.

"...Kakashi?" he said. The same way he'd always said it.

The fox stared down at the floor for a few moments, in a fashion that seemed rather deliberate. Then it raised its head to meet the Fourth with both eyes open.

_Ah._

Shimenawa took a very deep breath, and this time he was the one to glance away. When he looked back, there was a young man curled up in the corner, staring at the floor again and picking nervously at the sleeves of his white yukata.

"Hi, Sensei," Kakashi mumbled without looking up.

Obito looked back and forth between them, on the verge of realizing something huge. Then he froze, eyes going wide. Wait, they were almost acting like... no, they _were_ acting like... like...! He wanted to pout at them, wanted to ask why he was the only one who didn't remember, but... He couldn't speak. There was something about the way Shimenawa-sensei and Kakashi were acting that made Obito feel like they were somewhere else completely, somewhere he couldn't go because of his incomplete memories. It seemed to do nothing but make them miserable and yet, Obito wished... He stepped back, hugging himself a little bit, not wanting to disturb them. Whatever they were doing, it seemed important.

"Kakashi," the once Fourth Hokage repeated in a faint whisper, kneeling down in front of Kakashi slowly as though he still didn't quite believe his eyes. He wasn't trying to favor Kakashi over anyone, but he could not help the way he felt. Kakashi had been the one he had failed the most. Obito had died first, but he had lain down his life for what he believed in and to save his friend. He had died smiling. Rin had told Shimenawa that much. And Rin, she had fought by her sensei's side until the very end. But Kakashi, he-- Shimenawa closed his eyes at the thought, physically flinching away from it. He had never stopped asking himself how he could have let Kakashi destroy himself like that, how he had never found the right things to say or done enough to keep Kakashi with them. And he should have been able to, because he... he was their teacher, their mentor, the one the village had trusted them with to guide them. And he had been the Hokage. He had tried to lead a village without being able to help someone so close to him. It just wasn't right.

Shimenawa swallowed and closed his eyes, counting to three slowly. He opened them. Kakashi was still there. He shook his head and reached out, drawing Kakashi into his arms without warning, finally letting himself let go of the breath he had been holding all this time.

"Kakashi," Shimenawa whispered with a quiet laugh that was happy and sad and relieved and pained all at the same time, "You've been here all along and you haven't visited until now? I..." He felt his eyes water and he smiled.

"...I'll scold you for it later."

After all the exertion of yesterday, Kakashi couldn't quite seem to summon all the utter unbelievable shock that this situation deserved. Actually, mostly he just felt... bad, and wrong, and badwrong, except more than usual because -- it was Sensei and-- of all the things that could have happened when Obito told that outlandish story, he hadn't expected that the man would -- _understand -- _would _believe..._

"...You remember," he mumbled with the top of his silver head pressed against Shimenawa's chest, staring down. He wouldn't let himself be held too tightly.

"It would've been better if you forgot." Like Obito. Who didn't remember. Who did remember but didn't remember but, that was good. But he was happier, so much happier than when... "Otherwise you'll get your one life and your other life and your other other life all mixed up with your..." he paused and frowed at himself, "life."

Shimenawa felt his heart break, felt it physically as much as he felt it emotionally. It stopped, his chest tightening, his heart hurting as though it was splitting down the center. Kakashi sounded no better now than he had then, in fact sounding more lost and hurting and-- Shimenawa gave Kakashi a tight squeeze of a hug, holding him as close as he could, trying to let go of his own guilt and pain and regrets so he could be just his sensei again. Not the Hokage or former Hokage or future Hokage. Not the reincarnation of someone Kakashi had once known. Just Sensei. Because Kakashi needed that right now, and Shimenawa needed to be that for Kakashi right now. So he drew in a deep breath, let it go in a deep, shuddering sigh, and quietly dried his eyes. He sat back, hands still on Kakashi's shoulders, smiling a very broken-hearted and weary but genuine smile.

"How could forgetting ever be better?" he asked gently, touching one hand to Kakashi's cheek, "How could I ever be happy if I forgot all of you? Your genius and your determination and your sweet little boy self you were always too stubborn to show? And Rin's kindness and her wisdom and her patience for her boys and even her sometimes silly sensei." He turned back to smile at Obito.

"And don't worry, Obito. I haven't forgotten you just because you've forgotten me. You were thick-skulled and a little bit rebellious and you had an excuse for everything, but you were always a good kid at heart and you always gave everything you had to whatever you tried. You three were the best team I could have asked for. My only regret," Shimenawa-sensei paused, trying to decide if this was stretching the truth or not, but he _was_ trying to cheer Kakashi up and truth was a very relative thing anyway, "is not having spent enough time with you last time. So how can I be sad to be given another chance?"

"Well... remembering Obito's okay," Kakashi mumbled, looking slowly back in the other boy's direction. Because really there was nothing else he could say about that without sounding like a bit of a hypocrite. Then, as he thought about it, he realized he was being a little unfair. "Rin too," he added after a moment longer, because really she had never done anything that needed forgetting, that he could think of. And Sensei wouldn't be likely to mix anything up if it was only the two of them. Well, he might forget and call Obito an Uchiha sometimes.

...oh, that just left him.

Absently his fingers ran a squiggly line across the front of his yukata, up from the bottom of his stomach to the top of his throat, tracing some imaginary line. Once he got to the top, he started back down again, gaze turning downward to follow his un-progress.

"...I'm sorry," he finally managed to say.

"Was he always like this?" Obito finally interrupted rather impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest in a disapproving manner.

"You couldn't stand it back then either," Shimenawa laughed quietly, shaking his head. He set his hand on Kakashi's head, considered for a moment, and then contently ruffled his former student's hair in exactly the wrong way. Or exactly the right way, if you were Shimenawa and _trying_ to leave Kakashi's hair in complete disarray.

"There," he beamed, "Now you and Obito match like a proper couple. Shall we have coffee now?"

"_Senseeei_," Kakashi groused, utterly on reflex, and then paused to blink at himself. He sat there sprawled in the corner for a little while longer as Shimenawa rummaged through his cupboard for another mug.

It seemed like he was... forgiven. Just like that.

Sensei was always too nice.

His tail was thrashing against his legs as he rose to straighten his yukata a little, taking a deep breath and trying to feel like he had some goddamn self-control. He padded up behind Obito and latched onto the other boy's hand, just because he wanted to be touching right now. Sensei... Obito... His head kind of hurt with the impossible _niceness _of it all.

"You're right, you know," Obito gave Kakashi a fairly disgruntled look, "We _do_ hate each other." He paused then, glanced at Shimenawa (who was halfway inside his cupboard trying to reach the cute kitten-print mug in the waaaay back, the one he swore to this day belonged to a former assistant of his), and quickly pecked Kakashi on the cheek. A little bit embarrassed, he ducked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

"H-hey, Shimenawa-sensei! Let me help you with the coffee, yeah?" he turned back at Kakashi briefly, grinning brightly, "How do you like your coffee, Kakashi? Not that it really matters what you say 'cause Shimenawa-sensei will probably put sugar in it anyway."

"Um..." Kakashi was pretty sure the last time he'd had coffee had been over a millenium ago. "Sugar's good," he agreed absently, most likely to the utter shock of his sensei, who would remember a certain human boy he knew who refused to eat most things that weren't obsessively healthy; but Kakashi had discovered since becoming kitsune that one developed a certain sweet tooth. "Milk, if there is any? Um... I can do something?" he offered, glancing between Obito and Shimenawa and looking a little lost. He hadn't come over here to stand around and be waited on while people made him coffee. It was weird. Well, he'd come over here to stalk Obito and his sensei which was maybe weird too but that was beside the point.

A strangely blank expression crossed Shimenawa's face as he stopped, turned, handed his hard-earned kitty-print mug to Obito, and walked right back over to Kakashi. He pressed his hand against Kakashi's forehead, took the kitsune's pulse, checked his eyes, his ears--

"Open," he commanded, tapping Kakashi's lips, and checked his throat. He came away looking very serious, thoughtful, and troubled.

"Well, I don't see anything outwardly wrong with you," he reported in a grave voice, "But maybe you have a brain tumor. This is very serious. And if it's not a brain tumor it could be a sign of the apocalypse."

"Eh?" Obito asked, looking back and forth between Kakashi, Shimenawa, and the mug in his hands, "I... definitely missed something. And I actually didn't zone out this time."

"Oh, that's right," Shimenawa sighed, looking a little nostalgic, "You wouldn't remember that Kakashi's the same boy who would have rather wrestled a Mist-nin rather than enjoy his roll with some sweet bean paste."

"Foxes like sugar. I can't help it. It's yummy." It was the kitsune in him that made Kakashi pout like that. That was his story and he was sticking to it. "Do you have milk?"

"Um... probably? Or you can just use the creamer." Shimenawa reached over to snatch his beloved kitty mug from Obito's hands and line it up on the counter with the other two. "If you're not sick, I guess we'll all just have to watch and see whether any pigs fly or the earth moves or anything," the young doctor decided cheerfully, moving to fill the three mugs from the freshly-made pot of coffee. He supposed, now that he thought about it, inari-zushi _was _rather sweet...

Kakashi peeked in the fridge uninvited, and there was a small half-full jug of milk sitting on the bottom shelf, but as luck would have it, the thing was over a week out of date. His sensitive nose wrinkled; he could smell it quite well without even having to open the bottle.

Once the coffee was served and the candy had been brought out and all of them were seated around in a circle on the floor like they were in grade school again, Obito cautiously sipped at his coffee (last time he'd burned his tongue and the roof of his mouth trying to look impressively manly and now he knew better) and glanced around. It was amazing how third wheel-y he could feel when he was the one supposedly involved with Kakashi. Then again. He frowned a little, glancing between Shimenawa-sensei and Kakashi and how Kakashi acted like the long abused, male version of a blushing schoolgirl around the doctor. Huh. Kakashi _had_ outlived him, hadn't he? So all that time with Shimenawa-sensei... Obito gave them both wary looks. He _really_ wished he remembered.

"So, uh, guys," he asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them, "My paper...?"

Shimenawa grinned over the top of his mug. "Well, about that. Now that I can be totally honest with you, uh, you know... I was in charge of large portions of the Third War and all, so..." He nodded toward Obito's backpack, still grinning and looking altogether rather pleased with himself. "If you can take a little dictation, I bet I know more than your textbook." Kakashi certainly did too, when it came down to it, but the Third War was pretty obviously something Kakashi did not need to be dwelling on now or ever again; hopefully Obito would leave him out of the discussion.

Kakashi, for his part, was obviously not very fond of coffee. His sugar-and-creamer-filled mug sat beside his bare feet still two-thirds full; after the candy had come out he'd abandoned the beverage in favor of a lollipop, one of those unidentifiably-flavored green ones, and the candy stuck half out of his mouth as he looked over toward Obito with some concern. He pulled it out with a sour expression, twirling the stick idly between thin fingers. "Shoulda waited until next time..."

Obito smacked Kakashi across the back of the head in an entirely nonchalant fashion and then pretended to have had nothing to do with it.

"Hey, if you hadn't come this time, Shimenawa-sensei would still be _holding out on me_," Obito gave Shimenawa a wounded look that read how much he disapproved of his most trusted beloved person not letting him in on a secret as big as the fact that they were both so close in a past life and part of this mess with Kakashi, "and then I'd actually have to _study_ to write my paper. So your timing is perfect. Only way this could get better is if _I_ remembered. Then I could write my own damn paper and focus on how amazing and heroic I was. Maybe someday I'll write an academic paper about how I was totally single-handedly responsible for the success of everything. Damnit, why am I the only one who doesn't remember? This blows."

Shimenawa scratched at the back of his head a bit, looking apologetically embarrassed, but did not back down. "Well, perhaps you just weren't meant to remember. Kakashi and I both seem to have been caught up in some... out-of-the-ordinary circumstances... otherwise I'm sure we wouldn't remember our past lives either. Forgetting is human nature, you know. Your mind does it to protect itself, because it can only hold onto so much at once." He paused to smile encouragingly at the younger boy. "But who knows? Maybe having both of us around and being able to talk about it, the important things will start to come back to you."

Kakashi curled his legs in close and sucked on his lollipop, and thrashed his tail about, and didn't say anything, because if he said anything at all it was sure to be the exact wrong thing and he didn't want Obito getting any ideas.

"Anyway, wanna try and start working on that now?" Shimenawa asked.

"I'm not sure I like that way of remembering," Obito mumbled sullenly, rubbing his tummy unhappily, "I opened my history book yesterday and felt like the really big kid from my math class sat on me or I was having a heart attack or something. And can't I trade or something? My shit childhood with my crappy dad for... uh... hey, I was an Uchiha, wasn't I? That _had_ to have been cool. But yeah. Paper. Go on, then, Sensei. You can start telling me what an awesome ninja I was now."

"This may come as a surprise," Shimenawa laughed off the uneasy feeling Obito's words gave him, shaking his head, "but the war didn't _completely_ revolve around you. Let's go over the boring bits before we cover the chapter where you save the world, okay?"

"_Fine_," Obito sighed, trying not to look excited as he shifted so he could sprawl out on his stomach. He still couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face as he got out a notebook and a pen.

Because lacking actual memories of his past life aside, he'd been a real _ninja_. And he'd fought in a _world war_. It was like his boyhood dream come true.


	4. Chapter 4

Second Sight

_Chapter Four_

At some point, Kakashi had gotten bored of sitting around while his two favorite people were being scholarly, and escaped outside to go chase bugs or whatever it was that slightly-unhinged demon foxes did in their spare time. This left Shimenawa and Obito to their own devices, sitting in the middle of the doctor's kitchen working on the last concluding paragraphs of the research paper -- Shimenawa had panicked a little around 10:30 when he realized he hadn't opened up his office yet, and then remembered about five minutes later that it was his scheduled day off. How was that for providence.

"So I guess that works for an ending?" he posited with a raised eyebrow, picking up the last coffee mug off the floor to wash out over at the sink. "Is it long enough, do you think?"

"Yeah. If my history professor hasn't killed herself by page six, I'll be surprised," Obito answered, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, "That shit's _depressing_. War sounds a lot cooler in movies and stuff." He gathered up his papers and put them back into his bag in thoughtful silence, which was rare for him. He was _insanely_ curious now, and still just a little bit jealous what Kakashi and Shimenawa had. Whatever that was. God damnit, Obito was confused. About who he was and who Kakashi was and who the guy who had practically raised him really was. He just wanted things to make _sense_.

"...Shimenawa-sensei?" he asked hesitantly, dropping his backpack by the door, "I was wondering... about... you'n Kakashi..."

"What about me and Kakashi?" Shimenawa blinked, looking a little confused as he pulled a dishrag out of one of the cabinets.

"I dunno," Obito mumbled, finding himself a seat on the counter, "You guys just seem... really close. So what happened after I was gone, I guess. Or before. It's not... like I remember any of it or anything. I try to get Kakashi to tell me things but he's a little... well... he doesn't always make sense. And sometimes he just won't answer."

"...After you were gone, huh." The doctor smiled a little awkwardly, picking up a mug to start rinsing it out. "Well, um... what's he told you?"

"Nothing. That we kissed when we were thirteen. That we blew up a bridge and I died for him. That I was a sucky ninja," Obito sighed, kicking his legs a little, "...nothing."

"Oh." Shimenawa blinked, and his smile grew genuine again. "Well, he's covered everything important to him, then. Except that he loves you very much, but you'll just have to take that as implied, I'm afraid. Kakashi's always been a little shy." He swished soapy water around in his kitty mug, looking thoughtful as his gaze turned momentarily back toward the sink.

"I don't know, Shimenawa-sensei," Obito shook his head, "Maybe it'd help if I remembered, but... we were thirteen. It was wartime and it doesn't sound like we even had time to finish growing up. I'm wondering if I even got to hit puberty. How could he love me that much? I'm pretty sure he's only... the way he is because he's still guilty I died for him. Survivor's guilt can be a bitch, yeah? I just... I can't see how he could care that much for someone like me. He doesn't seem the type and we were only thirteen and... _three thousand years_. I just don't know."

"Hm, well."

The young doctor's smile might have been a little pained as he continued washing out the coffee mugs.

"There's a thing about Kakashi, I suppose. He's loyal to a fault... when he gets attached, he doesn't tend to let go." A faraway expression surfaced briefly on Shimenawa's face, as he thought back to that time, all those years and years ago, back when Kakashi had been just a tiny little thing... "He's been pretty lonely for most of his life, I think. He didn't really have a family, or well, he lost them very early. And he started training to be shinobi at an absurdly early age -- he's always been really smart, and he just didn't fit in with the other kids his age, so he didn't really have any friends when he was young either. Before I was your team leader, I taught him by himself for a few years." He paused to smile self-deprecatingly. "I like to think maybe I managed to fill a little of that hole for him, that lack of a family in his life. He never trusted people very much, but the very few he was able to get close to, well..."

He looked up at Obito with a sad smile, setting one of the mugs down on the counter. "He just couldn't bear to lose you, I think. He took it... very badly after you were gone. Not just because he blamed himself, but just... I don't think he could handle the idea that you weren't going to be around anymore. A very very few people made up his whole world, and losing you took a big chunk right out of it."

It hurt to say the words, because as every single one of them exited his mouth he couldn't help thinking forward to what came next in the story. A room in shambles painted with blood, and the beautiful, fragile boy he loved so much, crumpled on the floor in the middle of the chaos like a broken doll...

He should have been able to do something more. He was amazed and elated and grateful to have found Kakashi again, to get a second chance to help make it right, but... Shimenawa didn't think he would ever stop wishing that he had the whole thing to do over.

"Oh," Obito responded simply, feeling a little bit dumb. He didn't know how to react to that, still unused to being important to _anyone_. And the kind of dedication Kakashi had for him, even if the fox was a little (okay a lot) on the loopy side... Obito felt more than a little bit unworthy, but that was probably just years of his dad running his self esteem through the shredder. Obito acted full of himself all the time merely as compensation.

"I... I understand better now," he nodded, wringing his wrists, almost wishing Kakashi were back so he could try to... try to fix him. Try to make it better. But Obito had a feeling like he wasn't going to be able to do three thousand years of damage in his short lifetime.

"...Shimenawa-sensei," Obito began again, looking up, "You're not... trying to avoid telling me what happened after I died, are you?"

"Well, that's something I've always figured most people would prefer not to think about," the doctor said, with another uncomfortable smile. He turned back toward his chore for the moment. "How their loved ones would grieve after they died."

"Most people aren't bothered that much by their mothers crying and their friends getting hammered," Obito responded warily, looking at least as uncomfortable as Shimenawa did, "Something tells me that's not what you guys did."

"Well, there may have been some alcohol involved afterwards," Shimenawa clarified with a dignified cough. He stared down at the sink for a moment with unmoving hands, and after a long moment, he sighed.

"...this isn't something you need to discuss with Kakashi, all right?" the young doctor murmured. "You'll just upset him if you bring it up. But, he..." Shimenawa paused again, looking increasingly uncomfortable. "Living the kind of life he led, at his very young age... He was never a very stable person, and he really... was never the same after that mission, after you passed. Of course we tried to do what we could for him, but he just... seemed to keep getting worse and worse..." Absently he wrung the dishcloth in between his hands, as that horrific scene sprung into his mind again despite himself. It had taken a long time to get to a point where it hadn't felt burned into the back of his eyelids...

"He... took his own life, in the end," Shimenawa said quietly, turning to not-quite look at Obito with an awkward, pained little smile.

Obito didn't react immediately, the words not quite sinking in. It felt wrong. It bothered Obito on a very fundamental level. Shimenawa-sensei had just told him that Kakashi had _killed himself_ over his death, and Obito could barely even manage to feel numb. He felt too distanced from it all, from the person he had been. He didn't remember like they did, didn't have great enough an imagination to fill in the blanks. It didn't quite seem real. As though all this had happened for someone else and Obito was just an unwilling spectator. The things he felt when he was with Kakashi convinced him that he and Uchiha Obito were one and the same, and yet there was almost a wall between the person he had been and the person he was now. He knew he should feel horrible, _horrible _for what Kakashi had done to himself, but it felt almost as though he had just listened to the report of some tragedy on the news. It made him sad, but it didn't _affect_ him the way it should have. The way he so badly wanted it to.

"I... I have to go, Shimenawa-sensei," Obito whispered, mouth and throat feeling dry, "Thanks for all your help. I'll... I'll stop by after class. Or something. Yeah. Can you tell Kakashi where I live? No. He probably already knows. Tell him just in case. I guess. I have to go." He sounded as though he was speaking to himself as he made for the door, barely remembering to pick up his backpack on his way out.

He walked until he reached his campus, walked staring blankly ahead.

'_He took his own life, in the end_.'

Blood. There had been blood, hadn't there? Because Obito had bled. Had he bled? There was blood. And an eye. On the floor. It was on the floor, in the middle of the blood. There was a sword. It was a small sword. A tantou. _Kakashi's _tantou. There was a hand. No, there were _two_ hands. One held the tantou loosely. The other was near the eye. It had dropped the eye. Death can do that. Make you drop things. Obito knew because he'd tried to... take the sword. Take it away. But he couldn't. There was blood. There was screaming. Or there _would_ have been. Death takes your voice away too.

'_...the important things will start to come back to you._'

Obito was hiding in the courtyard. He usually hid in the library because it was quiet and dark but not right now, no. No quiet and dark. It had been quiet and dark _then_ too. Quiet and dark and dark and quiet and the moonlight was casting off the sword and the blood and the tears on Kakashi's face. There were tears on Obito's face too but the moonlight passed right through him. Just like Kakashi's gaze. Only then Kakashi couldn't see anything anymore because there was too much blood and it was dark and it was quiet and _why couldn't he hear him_?

Obito curled up against the bench and drew his knees up to his chest, pressed his face into his arms. Kakashi was _so stupid_. He never _listened_. Obito didn't _want_ it back! Obito was _waiting_ for him! Obito was _right_ there! He kissed Kakashi good night and good morning and he watched him eat and sleep and shower and he watched him fall apart. Why wouldn't he _stop? _He was going to make Rin cry, Rin was going to... He'd _promised!_ Why wouldn't he _listen_?

Obito cried into his arms in great, shuddering sobs as he tried to forget what he had wanted to remember all morning, cried until his head throbbed and his throat burned and he was so exhausted he felt he couldn't possibly cry any more but he still couldn't find a way to stop. He cried the way he had when Kakashi slumped over and dropped that _stupid goddamned eye_, cried the way he had when Kakashi _wouldn't stop saying his name_. He couldn't block it out no matter how much he covered his ears, because his hearing didn't rely on them any longer. He cried the way he had when Sensei walked in, when Sensei couldn't hear him sob out that he was so, so sorry that he'd been headstrong and stupid and let Kakashi get hurt and how he hadn't been fast enough to get away from that _stupid fucking rock_ and that he was sorry he died and he shouldn't've tried so hard to be a hero and... and...

Obito cried through his class, cried until he hated himself enough to force himself to stop. He had wanted this to affect him and now it did. Kakashi had suffered so much for him. Obito wouldn't be able to sleep at night anymore if he didn't do... _something_. He remembered something his dad had told him once. (Was it really? It couldn't have been his dad. His dad never gave advice. But he was so sure it was his dad.)

'_You can have anything you want in the world, as long as you're willing to give up everything else for it._'

Obito dried his eyes and forced himself to his feet. He headed for the enrollment office.

---------

A few hours later, the day now near dusk, Obito was in front of Shimenawa-sensei's office again, now a new man. He wasn't a full time student anymore, or even a student at all. He had a full time construction job he'd landed because, well, a lot of things needed to be fixed all the time in a ninja village, even one as modern as Konoha. It paid well, didn't involve a lot of thinking, and it _definitely_ didn't involve anything resembling customer service, so it was Obito's kind of job. He'd left his dad, feeling he had paid his dues to his old man for knocking some poor teenager up by not killing him for the past eighteen years, and now had a kinda small and crappy apartment a few blocks away. It was only a few minutes away from Shimenawa-sensei and it didn't have his dad, so it was Obito's kind of place.

Oh, and Obito'd gotten a haircut too. Short and shaggy, just like in the picture in his history book. And somewhere between dropping out of school and getting an apartment he'd picked up some red fabric and some white fabric. He planned on asking Shimenawa-sensei to help him 'convert' all of his clothing. And maybe convince the doctor to redecorate. Because his clan ruled too much to become a forgotten page in history.

"Shimenawa-sensei!" he all but sang, feeling a bit elated because, hey, everything was unicorns and rainbows compared to what he'd gone through a couple hours ago, "I'm back!"

It was nice to hear Obito sounding cheerful, but... considering the mood he'd left in earlier, somehow Shimenawa had a bad feeling about that note in the boy's voice. "Welcome back," the man greeted his young friend with careful cheerfulness as he rounded the corner to see Obito walking into the foyer. "How was class?" He paused for a moment after he'd spoken, looking at Obito with a slightly confused expression.

"Did you get your hair cut?"

In Shimenawa's living room, there was a silver fox sprawled over about half the length of the couch cushions, fast asleep.

"Didn't go," Obito shrugged casually, "But it's okay because I don't have to go to any of my classes anymore. I went shopping instead! Did you know they still make Uchiha fans? I was pretty sure my clan was the only one who put out this stuff, but _man_ some of the stuff the museum gift shop carries! Though the color is kinda off. It's a brighter red, and it was totally round. This is kind of a funny shape but it'll do." He pulled said fan out of his backpack which was now serving him as a shopping bag and fanned himself with it. Then he blinked at Shimenawa.

"Is something wrong, Sensei? And when did Kakashi get back? Did something happen? Why's he sleeping? We slept together last night so... well, _I'm_ not tired."

Shimenawa was still staring, a horrible sinking feeling tugging at his chest. He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling very, very frazzled. "I don't know, I think maybe he just likes the couch... Obito, are you..." He stopped himself from finishing that sentence with _are you all right. _"You--" and very suddenly it clicked in his mind and was crystal-clear--

"What did you remember...?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing really. I guess. I can't really tell apart my lives too well. I mean, I have this saying my dad used to tell me I swear it was my dad but I can't tell which dad. Some things are easier, I guess. I can't really mix up K-12 education here with the Academy," he smiled, rummaging through his bag once more, "Oh, and everything that I did after I died. Or didn't do. That stuff's all pretty clear. Hey, can I have a sucker? I haven't eaten all day and I think I'm going to pass out soon."

_...Oh, god, I'm going to lose another one._

Shimenawa leaned on the nearest wall until the sudden lightheadedness passed, and then he took a very deep breath and took Obito by the elbow.

"Obito, why don't you sit down," he murmured, leading the boy over to the part of the couch Kakashi wasn't lying on. He pressed him down gently into a seat without waiting for Obito's approval. "I'll go make you something to eat, okay...?" He paused to rummage around in his pants pocket, and produced a couple hard candies -- they weren't suckers, but hopefully they would do. He deposited them in Obito's lap and reached down to ruffle his newly-trimmed hair, and he gave the boy a quick, impulsive hug before starting toward the kitchen. "I'll be back in a little bit. Just call for me if you need me."

Once he got into the kitchen, he had to stop to lean against the wall and take another few deep breaths, and when he felt like he wasn't going to pass out he went looking for fixings for grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Thanks, Sensei! You're the best!" Obito beamed after Shimenawa, popping the candies into his mouth. (He did remember to unwrap them first, but only barely.) He looked around for a minute before deciding he was bored and scooped Kakashi up like a pet cat, setting the fox down again on his lap, stroking him with a hand that only shook when his concentration wandered.

"I don't care how much Sensei thinks you like the couch," he told the possibly still unconscious fox, "my lap is better. And what are you doing with the fox thing anyway? You make a better boy. And if you don't wake up you won't be able to see my new haircut. And why is it I never have good eyes? Maybe they're just too gorgeous. They're all big and pretty so stuff gets in them all the time. I suffer for my beauty. Hey, do you know where Sensei put the extra candy? I'm feeling a watermelon Jolly Rancher right about now."

Kakashi was awake. All it had really taken was being touched; but he smelled Obito's scent around him and heard Obito's voice, and knew there was no need to overreact. He didn't change back right away, though. He might have made a better boy, and he didn't mind being a boy usually, but he liked being a fox. It was nice to be warm and curl up on Obito's soft lap and feel Obito's hands stroke his fur and listen to Obito's voice talk about this and that, just because he could. He gave a little fox sigh, and licked Obito's hand gratefully before obligingly changing back. He was now taking up half the couch again, tail swishing semi-contentedly against the hem of his yukata as his head rested in Obito's lap.

"It's in Sensei's closet and I like your eyes and your hair and your lap, they're nice," he murmured, looking up at the other boy with some concern. "...Are you sad?" Obito's scent was weird, and Kakashi wasn't sure he'd smelled anything like it on the other boy before.

"Sad? No," Obito answered as he wandered away to find himself a watermelon Jolly Rancher. "Well. Maybe. I guess. A little? No, not really. Maybe," he mumbled to himself as he rummaged through the closet before triumphantly returning with his prize. He unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth as well before plopping back down on the couch, patting his lap for Kakashi to come back.

"I'm just... glad you're here," he decided as he wound his arms around the kitsune, smiling to himself, "You're here and I can hold you and touch you and feel you and keep you safe because you're really bad at that. That's good enough for me. And for the record, I'm not a sucky ninja and my clan was lucky to have me."

It was such absolute bliss, being able to touch Obito whenever he wanted, being folded up into Obito's arms as if it were nothing at all, that for a moment it just felt too good for talking. Kakashi hadn't done much feeling good in the last few thousand years, so he was absorbing every little bit greedily; and the events of the last couple days had totally drained his emotional reserves. His head still felt a little fuzzy -- which was to say, moreso than usual -- and at the moment, it was hard to make himself focus on much of anything besides how niceweirdnice it all was.

Something still seemed different about Obito, though.

"I can keep me safe," he pouted a little, winding his own arms around Obito's back and laying his head on the other boy's shoulder and generally attaching hmself. His tail swished against the couch fabric. "...You made neat paper shuriken," he offered after a moment, thinking back to some vague time that came randomly floating into his memory. "They stuck in the wood, too."

"Can not. Best we can expect out of you is for you not to find a way to get yourself killed," Obito countered, sitting back against the couch to better snuggle Kakashi, "And oh hey! I still do that! Only they don't make paper like they used to, man. That flimsy printer shit? Couldn't stick in... uh, something really soft. Like pudding. Yeah. Wouldn't even stick in pudding. Maybe I should go help Sensei in the kitchen. That'd be polite, wouldn't it? But he told me to sit here. He really wanted me to sit down. Is he acting strange to you? Hey, do you know how to sew?" Obito was definitely trying to avoid thinking about something, probably the mental image of Kakashi brutally butchered and slowly bleeding to death, mind darting from one whimsical thought to another in a desperate attempt to protect itself. Candy was good, wasn't it? Yeah, candy was good.

"Um, I can do field stitches." Kakashi blinked, having a hard time hanging onto Obito's train of thought. "They kinda suck though. Gave myself a weird scar once. Rin's scaryface is mad. ... um. Mad face is scary."

He cocked his head a little as he looked up the few inches toward Obito's face, a hand untwining from the boy's torso to stretch upward. "Your hair's different," Kakashi noted with mild surprise, reaching out to pet it reverently. It was soft.

"No," Obito corrected, "It's the same way it's always been. I'm not cool like you and Sensei. If my hair gets in my eyes during a mission, I just _die_. My eyes start watering and then I can't see but thankfully Dad figured it out before I was even in the Academy. _Your_ hair's different. Going for the dark and tormented look? No, don't answer that. I wonder what Sensei's doing." He carefully avoided talking about Rin. If he talked about her there was a chance he might start thinking about that expression she wore to Kakashi's wake. That expression that wasn't one. That blank look of someone who'd finally lost everything. She had never looked that way before. When Obito'd died, she'd used her pretty sad face and cried for him. That was nice. For Kakashi, she'd just looked empty. And lost. Like the only want she had left in the world was see her sensei to the end.

Which she did.

Obito squeezed his eyes shut, trying to make the thoughts _go away_.

"I wonder what Sensei is making," he continued abruptly, "Can you smell it, Kakashi? Tell me what it is, yeah? You always had the best sense of smell. Got creepy at times."

"Chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches," the kitsune murmured absently without missing a beat. He was still frowning at Obito's hair, now looking rather confused and unsure of himself. "It _is _different... it was different yesterday and... before that and before that and... before that too and..." He frowned, looking a little defeated as he glanced downward. "It was, wasn't... was?"

And... wait. The Academy. Something was pricking his mind about that, that he couldn't quite place. What was... Wait... this was _now-_Obito, he'd never been to the Academy... ...right? Was there actually an Academy hiding here and Kakashi'd never seen it? There was, wasn't there? No there wasn't. Well maybe there was and maybe there dammit he didn't know, did little kids study ancient four thousand years ago Konoha before there was a Konoha at the Academy well no they couldn't have because there wasn't an Academy eight thousand years ago and there, wait, what was he thinking.

"Maybe they're hiding it from me," he mumbled to himself, curling back up around Obito with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe. But this is _my_ hair. So whatever, yeah? Oh, Sensei knows exactly what I like. But of course he would. He practically raised me," Obito paused thoughtfully, "Well, I guess it's fair. _You_ got him last time. Wait, who's hiding what from you? Don't worry, Kakashi. We can go to City Hall tomorrow and look through the lost-and-found for your sanity. Maybe mine's there too."

Kakashi blinked, frowning again and looking a little forlorn. Getting things mixed up always made him feel sad, like he was letting somebody down. Like he knew he should be able to do better but he couldn't quite manage it. He didn't like that feeling at all.

"...now-Academy? For now-Obito. Thought there wasn't one now," he mumbled. "When did you go? I watched you but I didn't see it. Must have been hiding. It probably doesn't like me," he added as the thought floated into his head -- that explained it, really. He'd only stayed in the Academy for a year or two, after all, and he'd been very snobby and awful about it.

"I went the same time you went, stupid," Obito rolled his eyes, "And the school can't not like you. It's a school. Sure, the _people_ in the school might've hated your guts, but they couldn't hide the whole _school_ from you. Well, actually, maybe they could... with some really impressive genjutsu or something. Back then. Now, though, you've got my awesome Sharingan so you'd probably see right through the genjutsu unless the school went out of their way to use a super genjutsu. Which would either mean they have too much time and resources or they _really_ hate you."

"The..."

Kakashi frowned at the floor and felt very stupid. He unwound himself from around Obito and crawled off the other boy's lap with a rather chastised expression, tail drooping onto the couch cushions.

"Okay, food!" came Shimenawa's voice from the kitchen, as if on cue. He walked back in with a big tray of soup-in-a-mug and sandwiches for three, wearing something close to his usual smile; the brief time-out had been a blessing for his composure. "Here we go," he said as he set down the tray on the coffee table in front of the couch, taking up a perch on the floor on the other side and looking between the pair of boys expectantly (and perhaps a little apprehensively, as well).

"Where're you going, Kakashi?" Obito blinked, then was immediately distracted by Shimenawa returning with the food. "Oh hey, Sensei! Awesome! It looks great! Your cooking's always been better than my mom's! ...but don't tell her that. She'll get mad. Uh, well, not that you can." Obito smiled sheepishly and cuddled his tray of food, guessing it was just as well that Kakashi had gotten out of his lap because otherwise there wouldn't have been anywhere for his food.

"Obito..." Shimenawa paused in the middle of picking up a sandwich half, looking up at the young man with concern. "You, um... You're right, I can't, because I don't know your mom, and neither do you..." Oh, god, he did not want to be having this conversation. He shouldn't have said a damn thing, no matter how much Obito prodded him. How was he ever going to fix this mess...?

Kakashi glanced up at that, looking over at Obito with his dejected face fading into a worried one, but went back to staring at the carpet before long.

"What are you talking about, Sensei? You met my mom at my wake. She was the lady with the _really bad_ taste in clothes. Like the black looked okay on her but normally? You know what she wore to my graduation party? An orange, pink, and purple kimono. Who does that? Kakashi asked me once if her taste in clothes rubbed off on me, and I told him my clothes don't look _half_ as bad as that. In fact, they look sweet. At least orange and blue _go_ together," Obito blinked, not quite understanding what Shimenawa was getting at and then--

"_Oh_. You mean the chick who got knocked up by my drunk old man and left me at the hospital after I was born? You know I don't call her my mom, Sensei. Is something wrong? You feeling okay?"

Well, at least he hadn't actually _blocked out _the details of his real life. Shimenawa was able to breathe a little again. He shook his head, brow furrowing as he looked Obito in the face again. At his _wake..._?

"Well, I'm more than a little worried about _you,_" the doctor confessed, frowning. "And... what was that about not having to go to class earlier...?"

He paused for a second, and then shook his head. "Actually, no, just... let's just get some food in you first. We can talk after we've eaten. Kakashi?" His voice softened a little as he gently tried to catch the kitsune's attention. "Don't you want anything?"

Kakashi gave a faint start upon registering his name, looking up at his sensei with mild surprise. "...Um." He blinked down at the food for a moment before absently picking up a sandwich.

"Why are you worried about me? I'm fine!" Obito insisted, smiling brightly as he shoved his face full of sandwich.

"Oh an' I d'opped outta scoo'," he added cheerfully as an afterthought while chewing.

Shimenawa's jaw threatened not only to drop open, but to fall off his face entirely, so he stopped and took another very deep breath and resisted the urge to reach across the table and smack the boy upside the head.

"...Obito. This morning you were panicking over having a paper due and worked with me all morning to finish it." He spoke in his best reasonable I'm A Doctor voice, in hopes it would actually penetrate whatever was going on in Obito's head right now, and also because it helped him keep his own desires to Do Something Very Stupid in check. "This evening you're telling me that you suddenly dropped out of school. That should be evidence enough that something is not fine."

He stopped for a moment to breathe again. "Anyway. Food first. Kakashi, it's not going to fill your tummy if you just stare at it."

Uh-oh. Shimenawa-sensei was using his 'I'm A Doctor' voice. It was similar to a mother calling out her child's full name. Or a father reaching for his belt. It translated to 'boy, you're in some serious shit'. Obito swallowed and then took Shimenawa's advice, wolfing down his food while he still had the chance.

"I'll do dishes!" he volunteered, picking up his tray so he could retreat to the kitchen, "Just bring me yours when you're done! Kakashi, you can bring me Sensei's dishes, right? After all, he worked so hard to cook us this delicious meal! Yeah, you just rest here, Shimenawa-sensei!"

If Obito had run out of that cave as fast as he booked it into the kitchen, he probably would have survived.

...okay, admittedly it made Shimenawa feel a little better to see Obito reacting in a perfectly normal way to his _totally awesome _sensei's display of _righteous anger. _Or, well, relatively calm disappointment and confusion. It would have _felt _nice to shake the kid and beg to know what the hell had gotten into him and order him to snap out of it, but the fact was Shimenawa _knew exactly_ what had gotten into him, and violence occasionally helped you solve the problem of a bunch of guys jumping you wielding sharp pointy kunai but never solved much at all in the way of interpersonal communication, as Obito's dad this time around had proven nicely.

"What _am _I going to do with you two," he murmured, reaching up to rub at his temples as he watched Kakashi pull the crusts off his sandwich half. It seemed none had yet managed to actually find its way into the kitsune's mouth.

"...Kakashi." His voice was a little testy as he frowned. "You look like you haven't had any actual food for the last millennium or so. Eat your sandwich."

Kakashi looked up at him a little guiltily, and started chewing on one of the crusts. Shimenawa sipped his soup in silence for a while.


	5. Chapter 5

Second Sight

_Chapter Five_

Obito turned the faucet on. As far as it would go. He scrubbed his soup-mug and plate and tray until he started to strip the paint off of the tray. Once he realized what he was doing, he set everything on the drying rack, braced his hands against the edge of the sink, and tried very hard not to scream. Rin and Kakashi and Sensei and Mom and Dad and school and work and his stupid drunk old man and _his entire_ _life. _Why didn't Sensei get it? What was the _point_? He was dead and he'd thought it'd been so great. He'd died for his village and his team and helped in one of the most important battles in the war and his name had a firm place in history even if only because he was an Uchiha and the student of the Fourth Hokage. It'd all been so great and then everything was broken and everyone was broken. First Kakashi then Rin then Sensei and now everyone was still broken especially Kakashi so what was the _point_? Obito could finish school or not finish school and what would it matter? Kakashi would still be broken and Obito would still be dead because he still couldn't get that _fucking sword_ away and Kakashi still had that _stupid, goddamned eye_ and... and...

He swallowed and splashed his face with water. He wanted to start over. So, so badly, he wanted to start over. He wanted Kakashi to be an ass and he wanted Rin to be a stupid girl who didn't understand the first thing about boys. He wanted Sensei's biggest concern to be how to keep the three of them away from each other's throats. But that had all been such a long time ago. Obito kept forgetting.

"Is a fighting chance so much to ask for?" he mumbled to no one in particular.

"Hm, I don't think so. But the most important thing is to decide which battles really need fighting."

Shimenawa came into the kitchen quietly, walking up behind Obito. He set down his empty mug on the kitchen counter, holding out his arms in invitation.

"Talk to me?" he asked, with another worried but fond sort of smile.

Obito stiffened momentarily at the sound of Shimenawa's voice, not having heard his former sensei come in. Either Shimenawa had been doing some of his Yellow Flash stuff or Obito ninja skills were _really_ rusty. Then the boy turned and gave Shimenawa an absolutely pitiful look, eyes and nose red as his lower lip threatened to tremble. He shuffled over to Shimenawa and collapsed into his arms gladly before he buried his face against Shimenawa's neck and found that he had to crane his head at a slightly awkward angle to do so.

"Sensei," he whispered, "When'd you get so short?"

"I think it happened around the time you started growing up," the doctor answered good-naturedly, stretching his arms tight around Obito's body and stroking soothing circles on his back. He simply stood there without saying anything else for a while, giving Obito time to collect himself.

"So... What happened after you left this morning?" Shimenawa murmured at last, hand momentarily stilling.

"I... I remembered what happened at the end," Obito whispered, voice growing so quiet and small that he sounded like a boy again. His grip on Shimenawa tightened as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the images and thoughts and pain and regret and guilt from all coming back again. His breath caught in his throat and his chest tightened the same way it always did when he wanted to cry. But he wouldn't, not now. Because there was nowhere to hide and he didn't want Sensei to see him like that. It had been hard enough to be Sensei as it was and Sensei was the least broken of them all and Obito kind of really wanted to keep it that way.

_You met my mom at my wake..._

Shimenawa wasn't altogether sure just _whose _end they were talking about here, but he thought he had an inkling. He tucked his arms a little closer around Obito.

"That must have been... ...horrible..." he murmured, finding that he just did not have the words. The scene flashed into his mind again, unbidden. To think of that and then... to think Obito might have _been there_ while it was _happening, _dead and powerless to do a thing...

"...so what happened next?" he prompted very gently, beginning to stroke another slow, soft circle around Obito's back again.

"I couldn't do anything," Obito answered in a fragile sort of voice, "Couldn't do anything and... I just couldn't not do anything for him anymore. So I left school. Got a full time construction job. Found an apartment. Is it too late to save him, Sensei? Did I wait too long? Could I ever have saved him? I wish... wish I'd been stronger. Or less stupid. Didn't grow up fast enough. Didn't listen to you enough." The once Uchiha buried his face against Shimenawa's shoulder to hide the tears, nails digging into his former sensei's back as he clung on.

"I miss him, Sensei," Obito's voice cracked, then broke, "I want to hate him again. I want him to drive me out of my mind. I want him to make me want to hit him. I just want him to be _him_ again, or I'm never going to stop missing him. Missing him _hurts_."

Shimenawa hadn't let himself dwell on it too much anytime today. He'd been too caught up in the miracle of _finding _Kakashi again to quibble over the fact that he seemed a little too quiet, a little sad; easily confused and failing to make a lot of sense... But it was true, the more he thought about it; something seemed to be missing. That bratty streak; the little-boy meanness; the contrariness and brusque exterior that had served as armor for the softest spot -- an all-too-obvious need for love, for affection and acceptance. All those hard parts had been beaten out of Kakashi by the endless progression of years, Shimenawa expected; been bled away over centuries of desperate, miserable self-hating aloneness, in many of which he had little doubt that his dysfunctional student had been too afraid to talk to anyone at all. And over all those thousands of years by himself, constantly reliving trauma and guilt and failures, with nothing to ground him in reality save his tenuous connection to Obito, undoubtedly his ability to deal with the real world had simply atrophied away. It was sad and horrible and unfair and Shimenawa realized it was going to take him a while to be able to deal with this change, but as awful as it was, to him, at least, it didn't entirely come as a surprise. In terms of sanity, Kakashi had walked a thin line for as long as his former sensei had known him. But Shimenawa had been privy to a lot of information about Kakashi that other people had not, and one of the people who had never been in the loop was Uchiha Obito. After all, he'd been so _young..._

"I know," he murmured, running a hand through Obito's hair, standing there quietly for a little while to just let the boy cry. "I know it's not the same. And it's not fair that it's not the same. But you have to remember... he's still Kakashi. It's been a long time and he's changed, but in his heart, he's still the same person. He's still your jerk teammate who made you do pushups when you were late." He could feel tears pricking the corners of his eyes as he smiled. "That was how he showed you he loved you back then. He's changed, and how he shows it has changed. But it's the exact same love."

"Why?" Obito shook his head against Shimenawa's shoulders, not crying exactly though his eyes were far from dry. They wouldn't stop watering, burning, stinging. He just wanted to close them forever and dream about Kakashi looking down at him with that infuriatingly dry, superior look that made him want to tackle the other boy to the ground and wrestle him until both of them were livid at each other and fight with him until they were both exhausted and curled up in each other's arms far from prying eyes.

"I'm the same, Sensei," Obito choked, "I'm still stupid and headstrong and useless and loud and full of myself and everything Kakashi couldn't stand. Why can't he be the same too? Why can't we... Why..."

_Why was our future taken away from us? Why can't we have it back?_

There was no need to ask those questions, because Obito was beginning to feel the answer. It made him feel cold and numb and hollow but he understood all the same.

"Because life isn't fair," he laughed in a broken sort of way, pulling away from Shimenawa, "And death isn't fair either. And nothing is ever fair and things are just going to keep getting taken away from us so what's the _point_?" He buried his face in his hands and turned away from the doctor, laughing until each of his laughs turned into a sob and even then he could not stop.

"I had an ant farm when I was little, Shimenawa-sensei," Obito smiled a little bit madly to himself, "Dad gave it to me. When I got bored, I'd stop feeding them. Or I'd collapse a couple of their tunnels. Or I'd drown just a few of them. I'd always let them rebuild, because watching that was the best part. And once they were done I'd start all over again." Obito twisted his fingers in his own hair and tore at it, squeezing his eyes shut.

"_We're the ants_," he laughed, "We... maybe if we stop rebuilding they'll leave us alone. If we're not interesting anymore maybe they'll stop _hurting_ us and just let us... let us be."

"So are you going to give up then?"

Shimenawa's voice wasn't angry. It wasn't accusing. It was just quiet and questioning, and a little sad.

"Are you going to stop trying? Just resign yourself to being miserable for the rest of time? Even if you decided to end it all, you've seen by now that it doesn't really end. You can't escape, Obito. You can't go back. There's only one option." The doctor shook his head.

"You go forward. You just have to keep living your life, the best you can. And since that's all you can do, doesn't it make sense to try and be happy?"

Cautiously, he took a couple steps toward the younger boy.

"That's what Kakashi's been doing all this time, you know," Shimenawa murmured. "Chasing happiness. The happiness you gave him."

Shimenawa's words made Obito still, made the boy's eyes go wide as his heart ached painfully in his chest. How did Sensei manage to word things in exactly the right way to make Obito see hope where he was sure there was none? He had always been that way, always been such a comfort. Even during the darkest days of the war, when all of them were quite certain that they would never make it home again, Shimenawa had always been able to bring them back from the very edge of despair and offer them a thousand reasons to smile. Which was what Obito did now, however tearfully. He turned and swallowed and threw his arms around Shimenawa's neck, pressing their foreheads together.

"You don't belong here, you know," Obito whispered in a slightly watery but not entirely unhappy voice, "You're an angel or a saint and... I don't know what your problem is, but I'm glad. Don't go away, okay?" And then he planted a slightly salty kiss on Shimenawa's cheek and left the kitchen without another word.

Kakashi wasn't on the couch anymore, but Obito didn't exactly need the Sharingan to find the other boy curled up in the corner, rocking himself. Possibly practicing his self-loathing. Had he been listening to the goings-on in the other room? Obito shook his head and knelt before his former teammate.

"Kakashi," he called, smiling a tired but genuine smile, "Kakashi, stop that. Look at me, yeah? Everything's okay. You must be tired. Because I'm tired. And I always had more stamina than you, so you must be tired. Let's... let's go home, okay?" Those words felt _impossibly_ good to say.

"Let's go home. There's not much there yet, but I'll be there so that should be enough for you, yeah?" Obito laughed a little at himself, reaching out to touch Kakashi's cheek, "We can cuddle and kiss and do all those things that would really freak Sensei out because we're like his kids to him. And then we'll sleep and in the morning, we'll... have candy for breakfast and ... I'll steal my dad's TV and we'll watch really stupid cartoons. And we'll go to the train station and ride it absolutely nowhere. Okay, Kakashi?" Obito paused and leaned close, until his lips were right against Kakashi's ear. He whispered his next words out softer than a baby's breath, because they felt too precious to just say. Because it was Kakashi, and things that didn't normally mean anything _meant_ something when it came to Kakashi.

"_Because you're all I need_."

There were a thousand things that Kakashi had wanted to say. He'd wanted to say he was sorry and bad and wrong and he didn't mean to screw everything up, he just kind of always did by nature, and he knew he couldn't ever do anything but make Obito sad or crazy or dead and he was sorry he kept trying anyway, and he was sorry he killed himself, and he was sorry he broke his promise, and he was just going to leave and stop following around where he couldn't do a thing but be badwrong and mess things up and then maybe an Obito that didn't have a Kakashi clinging onto him would have a chance to be happy --

And then Obito leaned over to whisper in his ear.

He stared up at the other boy for a very long moment or three, eyes wide and wild and disbelieving, breath coming a little ragged. He was just too damn exhausted to cry any more, and he didn't know whether to be relieved or sad or mad or sorry or happier than he'd ever been in his very long life. But he was shaking a little; so he settled for getting wobbily to his feet, and half-falling against Obito's shoulder, and doing... something, that fell about halfway between sobbing and laughing, in the best possible way.

"...I _am_ tired," he mumbled after a while. His body seemed to have decided on a smile. A slightly delirious smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Alright, then. I'll show you our new home," Obito nodded decisively, helping Kakashi to his feet, "I'll even carry you if you're too tired, but you might have to do the fox thing for me." He waited for an answer, which came in the form of Kakashi skipping the verbal agreement, turning back into a light-footed fox shortly before reclaiming his spot on Obito's shoulders.

"Awesome, okay," Obito grinned as he turned toward the kitchen again, looking for Shimenawa.

"Hey Sensei! We're going back to my new apartment for a night of things that are potentially traumatizing for you to hear about! Thanks for letting me borrow your couch cushions! I'll wash them before I bring them back so you don't feel weird sitting on them in the future!" he cheerfully called out, and underlying cackle in his voice.

"_What _are you doing with my couch cushions!?" came the protest from the kitchen mere miliseconds later, as Shimenawa rushed out to intercept the pair of dirty thieves. He took in Obito's expression and Kakashi's presence around the boy's shoulders, and tried not to smile as he mock-scolded them.

"There will be no stealing or doing of funny things to my cushions, you understand?" he said, wagging a finger in Obito's face before pulling the boy in for another hug. "And I have to run the office tomorrow but I expect you to come by and see me when you can, all right?" As he pulled back, he raised a pointed eyebrow at Kakashi. "And _you_--" He poked the little kitsune gently in the nose. "_Eat _something tomorrow. I don't need my patients getting scared off by skeleton foxes."

Kakashi just licked his finger.

This had been a very, very long day. He was either going to be up with insomnia until the end of the week, or sleep like a rock from the sheer exhaustion. Shimenawa just hoped the two of them were going to be all right...

"We're not _stealing_ them," Obito whined once Shimenawa had released him from the hug, "We're _borrowing_ them. I told you my apartment's new, right? You don't _really_ want me'n Kakashi to sleep on the floor without any pillows, do you? We promise not to get anything that can't be washed off on them." Obito offered Shimenawa his biggest calf eyes, the kind that suggested Shimenawa would be worse than someone who drowned sacks of puppies if he didn't let Obito take the cushions.

"How about instead of kidnapping half my poor couch, I send you back with a proper futon and pillows? Where are you moving in at anyway?" Shimenawa didn't wait for Obito's response, but simply walked down the hall to the closet to start pulling out the aforementioned objects. He glanced back for a moment curiously. "Kakashi, do you..."

_One's okay, _came the murmur into both their minds. The young doctor looked at the two of them and grinned, and tried not to imagine any further for his sanity's sake.

"All right then..." He started piling pillows and sheets in Obito's hands.

Obito did his best to hold them all, managed to get them to balance right before he beamed out at Shimenawa from over the top of the pile.

"Oh, it's that one place a couple blocks from here..." He rattled off an address, trying to hold back his devious grin. "Thanks a ton, Sensei! You're the best! Promise we'll treat the futon _right_, ne, Kakashi?" Obito's smile quirked in just the right way to potentially severely compromise the sanity Shimenawa was trying to hard to keep.

"Yep, we should get going now because it's not getting any earlier and Kakashi and I have _lots to do_! Night, Shimenawa-sensei! We'll definitely drop by tomorrow, probably after you close up because we'll definitely be _sleeping in_!"

There was nothing quite like teasing Shimenawa-sensei. It was one of Obito's favorite pastimes.

Kakashi's tail thwapped Obito on the side of his face, and he felt that was enough of a reprimand as they walked out.


	6. Chapter 6

Second Sight

_Chapter Six_

It was an old apartment. The carpet was an odd color of green and things were maybe a bit worn around the edges; but it was clean and mostly well-kept-up, and at any rate, that wasn't the sort of thing Kakashi tended to notice. He observed that it reminded him of nowhere in particular as they walked in the door, decided he felt at home, and hopped down off Obito's shoulders to sniff the carpet. No dog smells, yay. Actually the place was probably no-pets, but that was okay because Kakashi wasn't a pet, he was his own fox. Well, he was Obito's fox. Except not really because that was weird. Whatever.

The walk down to Obito's place had been very calming, riding on the young man's shoulders, and he swiped a paw over his face and found that he actually was kind of sleepy. A moment later there was a boy sitting sprawled on the carpet, and he watched Obito as the young man moved about the room. "I'll help with the bed?" Kakashi offered.

"Sure!" Obito grinned, playfully tossing the pile of soft, fluffy things in his arms on the soft, fluffy boy on the floor, "I don't really know how to work these things anyway." Growing up, he'd mostly slept on the floor because the couch was his dad's domain, and he didn't really want to touch the thing anyway. There was no way of knowing the horrors it might have seen.

"Kakashi?" he asked aloud suddenly, looking around, trying to bite back an impish sort of smile, "Kakashi, where'd you go? Man, I _swore_ he was in here a second ago."

"I'm still here! I didn't go anywhere!" He was reasonably sure of it this time -- you didn't usually disappear just because someone threw a ton of sheets on you -- well, unless this whole thing was just a dream and he actually wasn't anywhere at all, but if that was the case it was a very nice dream, so Kakashi guessed he didn't mind. He pouted a little at Obito as he dug himself out from under the fluffy futon, and concluded after a moment that the other boy needed a pillow thrown at him very badly.

Obito didn't really see the pillow coming and didn't quite register that the pillow had hit him until several seconds after it had flopped back to the floor. He stared at it a little. Nudged it with his foot. His eyes widened.

Had Kakashi just... _initiated a pillow fight_?

Obito's eyes lit up and he was all at once grinning again, bending over to pick up the pillow.

"Hey, Kakashi," he called, "You dropped this." And on 'dropped', he promptly and cheerfully swung it at Kakashi's head.

Unfortunately for Obito, Kakashi's ingrained reflexes had not dulled over the millennia; he ducked the other boy's blow as he went rummaging underneath the futon for the second pillow, and came back up to clobber Obito with the hint of a smile twitching about his lips. He hadn't really meant for this to happen, but it seemed like a good idea.

Obito staggered but recovered quickly, having both his distant childhood as a slightly incompetent but altogether awesome ninja to fall back on as well as a not so distant childhood of dodging his father (who wasn't so very fast, but practice was practice) to fill in the several millennia of being out of practice. He twisted to one side and let himself hit the ground, rolling beneath Kakashi.

"Boo," he laughed as he swiped his pillow at his friend's face.

"Ack--" Kakashi took a pillow to the nose and stuck his tongue out at the other boy once it was out of the way, shoving his own pillow in Obito's face as revenge and plopping down right on top of him. After they'd rolled around on the carpet for a moment, Kakashi pulled away with a little laugh, debating the merits of throwing all the wadded-up bedding over Obito's head. He decided to go for it, and chucked his pillow at the young man as a distraction as he made a dive for the futon again.

Obito wasn't _that_ blind. He saw what Kakashi was trying to do as he batted the pillow away and then grinned to himself as though struck by sudden inspiration.

"HEY LOOK!" he called out, gesturing wildly, "IS THAT SENSEI?!" Then he caught his breath and waited. It might've been a long time, but honestly, there was no _way_ Kakashi would fall for that one. It was the kind of thing Kakashi would've given him a dry, unimpressed look for when they were younger. Much, much younger.

Kakashi's tail perked up as his head whipped around -- "Huh?"

'_No way_.'

Obito had to pick his jaw up off the floor. He might had stood there to stare for a moment, try to fully absorb the sheer... _fullness_ of the moment. Hatake Kakashi. Had just. Fallen for one of the _oldest_ tricks in the book, and Uchiha Obito had been the one to do it him. It was like winning some sort of cosmic award. And sure, Obito had cheated a little. Kakashi wasn't quite all there anymore. _But still_. It was like everything he'd ever wanted out of his childhood was suddenly _there._

But there wasn't any time to. This moment had to be taken advantage of, not enjoyed. Cackling, Obito darted forward and rolled away with the futon in his arms, taking it in hand like a rather large flyswatter. He swung it at Kakashi, ever merciless.

The rather accusatory pout had returned full force and Kakashi grabbed onto the futon as he was slapped with it, starting up a tug-of-war. "He is _not _here," the kitsune said in a Very Affronted Voice, though he thought Sensei actually would rather have _liked _to be here as pillow fights and various forms of silliness had always been his forte, and Kakashi could sort of see how he enjoyed it all so much.

"Of _course_ not," Obito grinned in a good-natured sort of way, pulling back on the futon in a characteristically stubborn fashion, "You've just gotten a lot more gullible since I last saw you."

The pout had now evolved into a Super Pout. "Well what if he was really there and I just couldn't see him or smell him or he was inside your head or something?" Clearly Kakashi was finding this all terribly unfair.

That said, Obito let go.

Kakashi stumbled backwards and didn't _quite _balance in time to keep himself from landing face-up on the carpet with a fluffy pile of futon and random sheets half-wrapped around him. He blinked up at the ceiling for a moment before laughing again.

There was something about that, that Obito simply couldn't resist. Kakashi pouting. Laughing. Rolling around on his carpet half covered in sheets. Obito took the two steps forward it took for him to flop down on top of both Kakashi and the futon, smiling quietly (or what was a quiet smile on Obito) as he reached out to poke Kakashi on the nose.

"Hey, Kakashi," Obito began, then paused, a momentary expression of confusion settling on his face (it looked very at home there) before he smiled again and shrugged, "Nevermind. I'm just happy. Are you happy?" Nothing else really needed to be said. He rested his cheek against Kakashi's chest and closed his eyes.

Kakashi blinked, and gave the question a moment of serious thought. Well, right at the moment, he wasn't _not _happy. And Obito was with him and _was _happy and he was warm, and there was touching and probably when he woke up in the morning, if this wasn't actually a dream, it would all still be the same.

"...Yeah," he decided, pulling his arms close around the other boy's body, and curling up to rest his face against Obito's soft hair before he too let his eyes drift closed with a contented sigh. That was all Obito needed to hear. He gave Kakashi a sleepy half snuggle before he slipped out of consciousness, warm and comfortable and content just the way he was. It had been a long day.

----------

The thought kept him up all night. It shouldn't have, but it did. Well, actually, it had every right to but he had to work all day the next morning and he really needed the sleep, but still... He just couldn't stop worrying about it. Obito had just gotten the apartment that afternoon, right? So between the busy day, the remembering of his past life (and afterlife), the possible subsequent emotional/mental breakdown, quitting school, getting a job, and anything else Obito might have done, Shimenawa was almost entirely certain the boy wouldn't have remembered to pick up food. Like any teenager, Obito reliably thought through his stomach, but getting him to actually procure the food he required himself was a near hopeless cause. And then there was Kakashi, who looked as though he were on the verge of falling through a crack in the floor. They definitely wouldn't have anything for breakfast, and the paternal instinct in Shimenawa couldn't turn a blind eye to it. They were his boys, after all. So after perhaps two hours of dozing on and off throughout the night, Shimenawa dragged himself out of bed around six in the morning and got dressed.

He spent half an hour in the kitchen working his culinary genius and left the house a little before seven with two cutely packed lunch boxes. One was plain, black with red accents. Shimenawa thought it suited Kakashi nicely. The other was pink Hello Kitty. After all the comments last night, Shimenawa thought Obito deserved it. Inside, nestled lovingly between little individual packets of butter and syrup were cookie-cutter made pancakes. There were hearts and stars and trees and teddy bears. He made them for his patients sometimes, and he knew at least Obito would appreciate them. And Kakashi seemed to have developed a sweet tooth, so that was promising.

The stroll to Obito's apartment was pleasant and uneventful, hopefully a sign of the day to come. ...hopefully. But it _was_ Matsudaira Obito. Uneventful was never a word that could be associated with a day spent with the child. Shimenawa cleared his throat once he reached Obito's door to shake him of his wandering thoughts and he raised his hand to knock.

The door swung open.

Shimenawa sighed, rubbing his temples as he lamented to himself, "Obito, you have to start making sure the door is shut..."

Then he got a clear look at the living room, the pillows strewn carelessly around the floor, and the boys. The boys were curled up together, with the sheets and a stray pillowcase and _the futon itself_ tangled up between them. Obito seemed to have rolled around in his sleep as his fist was now in Kakashi's face and his leg was thrown possessively over the other boy's body. Both of them were fast asleep.

Shimenawa smiled and sat down just inside the living room, setting the food he had made down beside him, content to watch them as long as he could. He couldn't bring himself to wake them.

After a while, though, Kakashi's tail began twitching a little against the tangled-up bedding; and as the sky lightened further outside, the kitsune found his eyes fluttering open. It took him a second to get his bearings; he noted Obito's hand in front of his face with a dreamy smile as he concluded that, indeed, everything he remembered transpiring yesterday had been real after all, and that was when he finally registered that he could smell Sensei. And food. But, Sensei.

He shifted just a little in his place until he could look at the man directly, offering Shimenawa a little good-morning smile of his own.

"Oh, you were here," he murmured happily, as though picking up in the middle of a conversation.

"Were you dreaming about me?" Shimenawa asked lightly with a curious look as stood to move a little closer now that Kakashi was awake. He hadn't wanted to accidentally surprise Kakashi out of his happy sleep before, the boys' expressions having been so peaceful, but now that Kakashi was awake there really wasn't any harm. Obito slept like a log and snored more often than not.

True to his nature, Obito slept on, mumbling to himself in his sleep ('_Noooo, Rin... just... five more minutes..._'), rubbed his nose once at the sound of their voices, and went right on drooling onto Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi shook his head as he glanced over at the boy lying next to him again, considering untangling himself from Obito and deciding against it for the moment. He'd just end up waking the other boy, and besides, it was all snug and warm and comfy here, except for the drool, but it was Obito drool so that was special. Kakashi couldn't think of very many people he'd sit around and let drool on him. Maybe Sensei. Well, Sensei was kind of heavy so it wasn't a great idea for him to be laying on top of Kakashi drooling all over him. So maybe just Obito...

He blinked and remembered Sensei had asked him a question, and paused again thoughtfully. "I was... Maybe I didn't dream anything," he concluded, shaking his head a little, and didn't _that _feel luxurious. Too tired to dream anything maybe, or to remember it, at least. That almost never happened.

"Did you dream, Sensei?" he wondered.

"Not... really," Shimenawa admitted with a half embarrassed sort of smile. Because dreaming involved actually sleeping, which he hadn't done. Not wanting to chase that conversation, he shrugged and then offered Kakashi a conspiring sort of grin as he leaned in to stage-whisper into Kakashi's ear.

"Want to see a neat trick?"

Kakashi glanced toward Obito's sleeping face, and then back toward Shimenawa. He had a certain sneaking suspicion. "Sure..."

"Watch this," Shimenawa snickered, carefully picking up the black lunch box. He held it just under Obito's nose before taking the lid off and held up three fingers with his free hand.

Three... two... one...

"PANCAKES!" Obito suddenly sat up, looking around energetically trying to find the pancakes that were right next to his face. He saw Shimenawa first and his eyes widened as he grinned broadly.

"Oh hi, Sensei! You brought pancakes! Gimme!" he sang, reaching for them.

"Oh no," Shimenawa laughed, shifting the box just out of Obito's reach, "This one's for Kakashi. _Yours_ is in the bag." Blinking, Obito looked down at the other lunch box and he made a face, pouting a pout that could rival Kakashi's.

"I _top_," he countered as he sullenly took his Hello Kitty lunch box and retreated to the corner with it. Shimenawa gently massaged his temples to try to soothe the brain cells currently screaming in terror. He had a feeling he wasn't going to win this one against Obito.

Kakashi hid a smile behind his hand, rising to adjust his slightly rumpled yukata (the mess that was his hair did not occur to him) and look down at the messy pile of futon and sheets thoughtfully. Finally he shrugged and concluded something could be done about it later. For now there were more important things to be taken care of, such as...

"That was for me?" he asked _very _innocently, turning around to eye Sensei's black and red obentou box.

"Yes, this one's for you," Shimenawa nodded as he offered the pancakes in question to Kakashi, "You better eat them before Obito does."

"Are you suggesting something, Sensei?" Obito protested from his corner, already halfway through his pancakes, biting the heads and limbs off everything that had heads and limbs before working his way through the rest. He had outgrown making his pancakes scream as he ate them a few years ago, but the process was still there.

Kakashi settled down on the floor next to Shimenawa, tail swishing contentedly as he opened up his own box of pancakes. He soaked them all in syrup as thoroughly as possible before he started eating, picking up a pancake teddy bear with his fingers.

"...That you'll always eat everything, prob'ly even an elephant?" he guessed uninvited in response to Obito's words, munching on his teddy bear and pulling out a duck which he held out to Shimenawa. "You want one, Sensei?"

"No thank you, Kakashi," Shimenawa politely declined. Not because he wasn't hungry. He had been up almost two hours now and he hadn't eaten very much the previous day so he was beginning to work up an appetite, but he had more food back at the office and it was a scary world out there for Kakashi, all those sewer grates and cracks in the sidewalk to get trapped in. The boy needed his food.

Obito meanwhile, had already finished his meal when he glanced outside and saw that the sun was already sitting high in the sky.

"Oh no!" he managed to say between licking each of his figures, "Sensei, what time is it?"

"Hm...?" Shimenawa glanced down at his watch, reading off the time, "Quarter to eight, Obito." His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Obito, you're not--"

"--going to be late for work!" Obito squeaked, scrambling to his feet, "I gotta go! Love you both! Okay, goodbye kisses!" He got a little mixed up on the way out and kissed Kakashi on the cheek and Shimenawa on the lips, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Obito, don't you have any--" Shimenawa began, blinking rapidly.

"See you all in like ten hours! Bye!"

"...clothes to change into." _Sigh_.

"That boy," Shimenawa shook his head with a fond smile, "Well, I should get back to my office soon. Can I trust you with helping Obito actually move into this place today, Kakashi?"

The kitsune, still mid-pancake, hadn't gotten the chance to tell Obito goodbye; he looked around the apartment thoughtfully as he chewed, and when he was finished, shrugged a little.

"Well. I can clean up and stuff. Don't worry about me, Sensei." Kakashi offered a brief, shy smile as he licked some syrup off his fingers. He'd been by himself for the last several millennia and he'd done all right... sort of... kind of... ...anyway, there was no reason for anybody to make a big deal about his being alone for a few hours, right?

...Alone. Was. a badword. It wasn't... like it was a big deal or anything but it was just.

He didn't really _want _to be.

...but it wasn't a big deal. Or anything like that.

"Um... can I come see you later?" he mumbled a little hesitantly.

"You're always welcome in my office, Kakashi," Shimenawa answered gently, brushing his hand against Kakashi's cheek. He swallowed with some difficulty then, remembering that the last time he had done that it was to wipe away... the blood... He lowered his hand to his side again.

"Furniture," he coughed abruptly, holding his smile in place, "Make sure Obito gets some, okay? And try to make sure his means are at least moderately legal. Or that he doesn't get caught. I'll settle for not having to bail him out of jail. I'll bring you guys groceries after work." Because they were just boys still, really. Obito would probably buy sacks of candy and call it food and Kakashi didn't seem likely to stop him.

"Okay. Furniture." Kakashi glanced around at the place, noting that it _did _look pretty bare. Carpet, an old bookshelf in one corner that had probably been abandoned by its previous owner, a few piles of Obito's stuff, and a messed-up futon... Well, he could probably take care of that. What else did you need in a house? Hopefully it would come back to him later.

"I'm on it," he said with a nod, and paused, and just looked at his teacher for a moment. It was a familiar serious look, one that might perhaps have reminded the former Fourth Hokage of old times, of sitting around his home in the evening with a boy of ten or so, studying scrolls and eating and having pleasant arguments.

"Um... thanks, Sensei," Kakashi murmured.

That look-- Shimenawa drew in a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes, abruptly aware of exactly what Obito meant about 'missing Kakashi'. It had been impossibly long since those quiet nights. He laughed a little to keep from crying and pressed a kiss on Kakashi's forehead, the way he had often done when the boy was much smaller.

"You're not alone anymore, Kakashi. We won't leave you again as long as we can help it," Shimenawa murmured the words against Kakashi's forehead before sitting back, "And last I checked, the front lines these days don't have a high demand for pediatricians, college students, or shifty little fox demons." He ruffled Kakashi's hair again, not that it needed much help this particular morning.

"Everything will be better this time," he smiled, "You'll see."

Kakashi just kept looking at him for a moment, mismatched eyes seeming terribly young. At last he glanced off to one side with another small, shy smile, and then sniffed a little disdainfully.

"I'm not shifty," he insisted. Looking down at the half-finished obentou box, he picked up another little pancake and started idly turning it around in his fingers.

Somehow the world had gone and turned impossibly wonderful on him.

"Well that can be our secret," Shimenawa teased as he glanced at the time before breathing out a small sigh, "I think I can stay with you another hour. How does that sound?"

Kakashi looked up again with his mouth half-full of pancake, and it didn't occur to him to hide his sheer relief as he nodded in assent. He swallowed quickly.

"...Good. That-- Would be good."

It was okay, though, if Sensei left -- he was all right by himself, really he was, and besides if he wasn't Sensei had said Kakashi was always welcome in his office, so as long as he didn't bother anything too much...

It hadn't really looked like much of an office. There was a kitchen and a living room and bedroom and lots of stuff that offices didn't have, but maybe the rest of it was on the other side or something... It occurred to him that he didn't know a thing about Se--... about this Shimenawa-sensei.

"So..." Kakashi blinked. "You're a doctor?"

"Pediatrician," Shimenawa nodded, then added, "A doctor that specializes in caring for children. Which means that I can be Obito's doctor until he's old and gray, I suspect." Kakashi had always been a bright boy, but there was always the off chance that three thousand years of running around forests, eating small forest critters and insects and berries, and occasionally stalking Obito had altered the boy's world view a bit.

It made perfect sense, really. Sensei was already everyone's dad, and had been very close to being Kakashi's too except for how he already had one of those that he couldn't just do away with. Also, most of the time, the Sensei Kakashi remembered might as well have been a kid himself.

"I guess you can be your own doctor too then," he observed matter-of-factly, dragging a finger through some of the extra pancake syrup.

"...what was that?" Shimenawa laughed in disbelief, sounding both surprised and delighted. He scooted himself a little closer to Kakashi and playfully dug his elbow into Kakashi's side, giving him a vaguely smug look.

"Does that mean you're making the pancakes next time, Kakashi?"

The pout reappeared as the kitsune cleaned off his syrup-covered finger. "I guess I could," Kakashi offered dolefully, "but I don't think they'd be the kind you could actually eat..."

It was nice to just sit around and talk. Even before he'd... left, even before all this time had passed -- it had been so long since he'd been _with _Sensei, not just in the same room... hanging around with him doing nothing and just... basking in his presence.

On some level it felt a little weird, but they were sitting so close... somehow it was almost a reflex the way he leaned forward, quieting as he twined his arms loosely around Sensei's waist, laying his head down on Sensei's shoulder, and breathing in his scent and his aliveness and his _there_ness.

It would have been a lie to say that the gesture didn't surprise Shimenawa. He had not quite gotten used to Kakashi being so openly affectionate yet but... it was nice. It was one of the few changes in Kakashi that Shimenawa welcomed. He wound his arms around Kakashi protectively, stroking his back soothingly the way he had done for Obito.

"Kakashi," he whispered quietly, a smile in his voice, "Let me sing you a lullaby. One that has absolutely nothing to with ninja."


	7. Chapter 7

Second Sight

_Chapter Seven_

By the time Obito came home that evening, _somehow_ his house was nearly entirely furnished. With things that weren't his. He only found it alarming because he was sure Shimenawa-sensei was going to be convinced that Obito'd somehow managed to shoplift a _sofa_, possibly with his newly found memories of how to move _really freaking fast_. Other than that, hey, it was free furniture. So the first few weeks in the apartment were fairly interesting, as every time Obito so much as thought that he needed to go pick up something for the house, it would show up the next day as though it had always been there making him wonder why on earth he even had a job. And then there had been the little mishap involving the bathroom door and it getting removed when Obito had jokingly complained that he couldn't put on a show while in the shower with that getting in the way. Things like that.

After the initial few weeks of settling in, though, life, for the most part, fell into a tranquil sort of cycle. Obito and Shimenawa spent the days working, Kakashi spent the days wandering between home and Shimenawa's office and randomly around the village doing whatever it was domesticated fox demons did, and in the evenings they would all get together at Shimenawa's and have a real meal and talk and generally act like the kind of family commonly featured in anime geared towards children ages four and younger. (Only rather gay and with the occasional perverted joke from Obito, and with a quite significant amount of nagging from Shimenawa -- he had yet to give up on convincing the former to go back to school.) Kakashi had his bad days; there were times when he woke up not at all sure where or even if he was, and times when he needed watching to keep him from scratching until he bled, but over time these proved more and more the exception to the rule, and more often than not the three of them spent their days with nothing more pressing to worry about than what was on the menu for dinner that night.

And because they were all happy by any human standards and absolutely _blissful_ by their personal standards, the months simply fell away from them. Before they knew it the last few hot days of Indian summer had given way to a proper fall, and fall in turn succumbed to the first faint chill of winter.

It was a particularly dreary day that Obito chanced to wake up too early to roll over and bolt out the door to work. He had time to get up, fix himself a bowl of cereal, and settle himself down in front of the TV for at least a cartoon or two, Kakashi wandering over to drowse on the couch beside him. Cartoons did worlds for Obito's mood, really; work had been absolutely miserable the last few days because of unseasonally heavy rainfall and today wasn't looking too much more promising, so he needed a boost wherever he could get it.

However, by some unlucky chance, the first thing Obito tuned in to when he turned on the TV wasn't the usual morning cartoons, and by the time he heard the first line of the broadcast, flipping the channel was no longer an option.

_Konoha law enforcement officers are trying to determine the identity of a young child whose nude body was found in a low traffic residential area Thursday._

Obito stopped eating. Beside him, Kakashi was very still.

_The dark-haired girl, estimated to be approximately 12 to 14 years of age, was discovered at about 11:05 a.m according to Detective Sgt. Taniguchi Soichiro._

A group of high school girls in the area found the body 'laying up about 50 or 75 feet from the roadway', Taniguchi stated. The girl was tied up and a rope was found around

_her neck. There were multiple stab wounds on her face and chest, at least 20 or 30 in all._

There was a sick feeling in Obito's stomach that he couldn't really explain. Naturally, the story bothered him. Some little girl that Shimenawa-sensei probably personally knew had been brutally murdered. That bothered him, and that was perfectly natural. What _wasn't_ natural was that Obito almost knew the details of the case before the newscaster read them.

'_She suffocated to death_,' he thought to himself, '_It took her a long time to die._'

_The body was transported to the Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, which revealed the cause of death as asphyxiation due to bleeding into the lungs, but that the girl was tied up after her death and that there is evidence of rape._

_"The rain washed all the evidence away_," he whispered mostly to himself, shaking his head.

_Officials aren't certain how long the body had been at the site because of recent rains, but Chief Deputy Morita Hideaki said investigators don't believe the homicide occurred at the scene. 'It looked like overnight, but it probably had been within 48 hours,' Taniguchi reported._

Taniguchi said officials had no suspects in the case Thursday afternoon. 'At this point, we are still looking for the identity.' Morita said officials were alerting other law enforcement departments of the details of the case.

_'We don't have a lot to go on.'_

Obito closed his eyes and felt like he was going to be sick. He dumped out the rest of his cereal into the sink and decided it was a good day to show up at work early. He needed _air_, needed--... He just needed to breathe.

He walked out of the house that day with the morning news still blaring across the TV screen, Kakashi staring at it from the same spot he'd been in all morning, unmoving.

--------

It was the small miracles in life Obito had gotten used to being glad for. He never really got much else in the way of breaks. Work had been even more miserable than usual, but for once Obito welcomed it. His muscles burned and he was filthy and muddy and he'd even earned himself a bruise or two, but all of it managed to take his mind off that morning's news. It wasn't that he was able to stop thinking about it as much as while he was still thinking about it he also couldn't help but think of how tired he was and how gross he felt and how badly he wanted to go home, shower, change (this one was only a maybe as not getting dressed again after his shower was always an option), and collapse into Kakashi's arms until it was time to go bother Shimenawa-sensei. Being distracted by so many things kept him from getting himself too worked out about the girl in the news. (His imagination was far too overactive. That morning on the way to work, he swore he knew exactly where each of the stab wounds were, especially the one that pierced her lung.)

He felt himself ready to collapse with relief as he unlocked the front door and let himself in.

"Kakashi, I'm--" Obito looked up and suddenly forgot how to breathe.

There was blood on the walls. Spatters about chest height that had oozed down to the floorboards; smears on one of the windows; little drip spots on the carpet and a puddle on the coffee table that sat very still and red and silent. There was a single red streak across the television screen, which was tuned to static, quiet hiss accentuating the dead silence of the room.

Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

There was a single moment where everything simply stopped. Obito's thoughts stopped. His heart stopped. His breath stopped and time stopped. For a single, impossibly long moment, Obito couldn't move or breathe or think. All he could do was stare in fixated horror at the one sight he would have sold his soul to never see again.

Then he ran into the apartment. He might have slammed the door behind him, either that or it was the sound of his sanity audibly snapping. A barely coherent thought was all that ran through his mind.

'_Oh no oh no oh god no no no no no not again oh god no please no not again not again I can't do this again_.'

Why was there so much blood? How was there any left in Kakashi with all the blood that was everywhere else? Obito opened his mouth to call out Kakashi's name but all that came out was a pathetic, strangled whimper. He choked, choked on what...? He coughed violently and touched his throat and found it wet. When had he started crying?

"_Kakashi!_" he finally managed, voice hoarse and raw as though he had already been screaming. Had he? He couldn't remember. Couldn't remember anything except moonlight and blood and a sword that he couldn't touch and a boy that was bleeding and dying who he couldn't hold. He stumbled trying to get into the bedroom, staggering for the door.

'_Please, please, please, please_,' he thought to himself as his trembling hands struggled with the door. Which, like everything else, was slick with blood. Obito somehow managed to get it open, somehow managed to get inside.

"Kakashi!"

There was a breath of a whisper mumbling to itself somewhere on the other side of the bed.

"...doesn't go there, don't put it back, he doesn't want -- that's not -- hurts, it's already gone, he's already gone, he's gone, he's gone, stop putting it back... You're too loud... He'll be mad, he'll be mad, you'll make him mad..."

The object of Obito's frantic search was curled loosely on his side, lying on the floor near the foot of the bed, trembling as he stared toward the wall with wide unseeing eyes. His elbows were pulled in close to his chest; one hand was half-fisted, pulling at a chunk of silver hair, while the other was gripped around a long kitchen knife, holding it close like a child's stuffed animal, the blade biting into his palm. His yukata hung open and was spattered with blood, and appeared stuck to his body in places; there were wandering red streaks down his torso and long methodical lines crisscrossing his arms and the fronts of his legs, some of the shallower ones beginning to crust over with scabs and some still bleeding freely.

"I didn't mean it... don't be mad... didn't mean to..." he mumbled, voice twisting in something halfway like a sob.

The sight of Kakashi cut up and bleeding stole what was left of Obito's lucidity and he let out a low, whimpering moan as he sank to his knees in front of the other boy.

"Tell me you see me, Kakashi," Obito begged, crawling up to his friend on his hands and knees, "Give it to me, Kakashi, please. The sword. Give it to me. Don't hurt yourself anymore. I'm here. _I'm right here_. Can you... can you hear me, Kakashi? I'm here. I'm right here. _Please._" Each word came out as a sob as Obito slowly reached out to take the knife from Kakashi. He grabbed it by the blade, waiting for it to pass through his hand. It didn't. It sliced into his fingers, cut to the bone, and Obito bit down on his lip in pain. Then he smiled. He could hold the knife. He pulled on it, fresh tears streaming down his face for the sheer relief he felt.

"I'm sorry," he wept, voice choked, "Please. I'm sorry I was stupid. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry I made you hurt. I was stupid and I didn't know any better and I'm sorry. I'll do anything, Kakashi. _Anything_. Don't hurt yourself anymore. C-can you hear me, Kakashi? Please, please, _please_ don't hurt yourself anymore."

Kakashi did not respond or, indeed, appear to recognize Obito's presence at all. He continued his running dialogue with the voices inside his head, legs curling in a little closer; his grip slackened slightly on the knife the more Obito pulled on it, a trickle of blood slipping out from his palm to puddle on the carpet and soak into his clothing. His gaze went right through Obito as he continued to stare, watching the progression of his own private unseen horror.

The relief from be able to take the knife from Kakashi quickly drained away as Kakashi failed to acknowledge Obito's arrival at all, gave him that terrifyingly blank stare that went right through him. _Right through him_. Obito pulled the knife completely out of Kakashi's grasp and stared it, stared at the cuts it had made in his hands. He had taken the knife away. The knife had made him bleed. Ghosts didn't bleed, right? Ghosts didn't bleed, but Kakashi stared right through him and couldn't hear him so... so... Obito didn't know what he was anymore, didn't know if he was alive or not but Kakashi was still bleeding and he couldn't hear or see him so that meant that Obito couldn't do anything for Kakashi and _oh god that thought scared him_. He had to do something. Something, something, something-- what could he do?

"Kakashi!" he begged, voice all but a hoarse scream, "Kakashi, _please!_ Answer me! _Kakashi!_" Obito fell silent when Kakashi failed to even blink, stunned into silence by his sheer helplessness. Then he stood, clutching the knife to his chest much the way Kakashi had to make sure that the knife was with _him_ and that way Kakashi couldn't hurt himself anymore with it. If Obito really was a ghost and that was why Kakashi couldn't hear or see him, then he would just have to find someone who was alive to help Kakashi. Sensei would know what to do. Even though... even though Sensei hadn't been able to see or hear him last time either. But he had to try.

He ran out of the apartment, knife held haphazardly in his arms in a way that, if he tripped, he would be in a lot more need of help than Kakashi. But he was too desperate and determined to trip. He ran all the way to Shimenawa's front door and pounded on it, almost threatening to break it down.

"Sensei!" his voice was barely anything but a hysterical sob, what he was saying almost impossibly to discern, "Sensei, open the door!"

There was some commotion on the other side of the door, and a few moments later the young doctor pulled it open, expression going from worried to outright frightened as he took in Obito's bleeding, hysterical state and the knife in the young man's hands. "Obito -- what in the world is going on--" Before anything else he tried to usher the boy inside, reaching to take the knife automatically.

"No, no, _no,_" Obito shook his head rapidly, shrinking away from Shimenawa's hand because he had to keep the knife to make sure that Kakashi didn't have it. Then his eyes widened and he threw his arms around Shimenawa, only managing to avoid stabbing him by some miracle.

"You can _see_ me!" he whispered as though it was the best thing he'd heard in his life. It probably was. He shook his head and stepped back again, remembering that he was in a hurry. Or in a panic. Or both.

"No, we can't go in. We have to go. Now. We have to go now," Obito drew in a sharp breath, "Kakashi hurt himself again and he can't see me or hear me but I got the sword away this time. I got it away from him but he's still bleeding and he won't listen to me but maybe he'll listen to you so we have to go before... before..." Obito squeezed his eyes shut, forcing out the tears that had been welling up in his eyes.

Shimenawa felt rather like he _had _been stabbed in the chest, but there wasn't time to dwell on how he felt; right now he needed to take action. Thank god he'd just seen his last patient out the door... He reached out to curl his hand firmly around the knife again, pressing the other one against Obito's face and tilting up his chin to look him in the eye.

"Let go of the knife, okay?" he said firmly, a familiar, commanding sort of calm coming over him. "We'll leave it locked up here so it can't hurt you or Kakashi any more."

"I'm not hurt, I can't get--..." Obito blinked slowly and for the first time since he saw the blood on the apartment walls, _breathed_. He swallowed and let go, nodding slowly, "O-okay, Sensei. I'm... I'm..." He watched blood drip from his hands to the ground.

"...bleeding."

Shimenawa nodded let his arm fall to the side, still holding the knife; he didn't move his other hand and he nudged Obito's chin back up when the boy's gaze strayed elsewhere, keeping eye contact with him as much as possible.

"Can your hands hold on for a little longer?" The idea of just leaving Obito to bleed pained him, but he had no idea what kind of condition Kakashi was in; he couldn't spare a second. "I want you to wait here. I'm going to go inside and put this knife away, and then I'm going to gather some things to help Kakashi with, and then I'll come back outside and we'll go see him right away. Okay?"

"I'm okay," Obito whispered, nodding, "Kakashi's bleeding a lot more. A lot, lot more. Blood everywhere. Everywhere. On the walls and the table and the floor and the..." He continued to inventory all the places he had seen Kakashi's blood semi-coherently, attention drifting away from where he was.

Shimenawa's chest felt like it was about three sizes too tight. He took a deep breath and sat Obito down firmly on the front steps, turning back toward his door. "Okay. Obito? I'm going to go get those things now, to help Kakashi, and when I come back out we'll go see him, okay? You wait here. Don't move." He quickly walked inside, through the kitchen where he threw the knife into the sink with more force than was strictly necessary, and then into his office where he pulled out the first aid kit and his housecall bag (from the way Obito described it he wasn't sure whether the bandages in just one of them would be enough). He flipped the sign on his office door to 'closed' and fairly ran back to where he'd left Obito, heart pounding hard.

Obito had only gotten as far as 'blankets, bed, bedroom floor' when Shimenawa returned, so it was sufficient to say that he hadn't moved. He did manage to look up when Shimenawa reached him, though his eyes didn't quite seem to fully register who he was looking at. The young doctor touched him on the cheek again, trying to keep his full attention.

"Obito? We're going to go help Kakashi now, okay? I want you to help by carrying this for me." He set the first aid kit in the young man's lap. It seemed prudent to give him something to focus on other than listing off every single one of the places he'd seen Kakashi's blood splashed over their apartment _(oh god, the floor, all over the floor, he remembered how it had seeped into the cracks in the wood...)_ "Let's go back to your place so we can help Kakashi," he repeated, hoping Obito would hurry back with him under his own power but ready to drag him if he faltered. There wasn't enough time to be gentle.

"Y-yeah, let's go back," Obito nodded, holding the first aid kit with the hand that wasn't bleeding because he didn't want to get blood all over it because that would make it harder for Shimenawa-sensei to help Kakashi. He was so terrified out of his mind and certain that the world was ending that even simple tasks seemed to take impossible effort, but he managed to stagger the first few steps toward the apartment. The rest came easier.


	8. Chapter 8

Second Sight

_Chapter Eight_

It was at the door he stopped, shaking his head. He offered the first aid kit back to Shimenawa.

"Can't... I can't... Please fix him, Sensei. I can't... watch him look through me anymore. I can't be invisible again."

The doctor pushed it gently back against Obito's chest.

"You're not invisible, Obito. Kakashi's mind is sick and I'm sure he doesn't even know where he is right now. But when he comes back again he'll need you to be with him. Come on." He tugged at the boy's shirt with an expression that would brook no argument. There _wasn't time..._

Obito swallowed and very hesitantly followed Shimenawa in, if only because he was scared that if he tried to talk his way out of it Kakashi would bleed to death in the meantime. He stared at Shimenawa's back the entire time, the very thought of seeing all the blood on the walls and everywhere else enough to make him feel ill.

"Bedroom," he whispered, "Kakashi's in the bedroom." Not that it was a hard thing to figure out. If Obito hadn't been in a state of blind panic the first time around, he would have seen the clear as day blood trail that led straight to where Kakashi was.

Shimenawa didn't look around either. He could see blood spatters on the carpet out of the corner of his eye and that was more than enough -- when Obito spoke up, the doctor headed straight in the direction of the bedroom, eyes focused on its doorway the whole time.

Kakashi was still right where Obito had left him. He'd curled up more and was now lying there in a little ball on the carpet, one hand still in his hair and the other rhythmically scratching raised red lines into his bare shoulder; his yukata was tangled around his body, just barely hanging on. He was staring inward toward his feet now, line of sight wavering back and forth slightly, and his mumbling had lowered in volume to the point where it was hard to understand any more than isolated words and whimpers.

"fight... ... can't... he won't..."

The first thing Shimenawa did was catch Kakashi's hand by the wrist to prevent him from harming himself any further as he tried to assess the damage that had been done.

"Kakashi," he spoke in a soothing but firm voice, hoping to get through to the distressed boy but not entirely optimistic, "Kakashi, it's Sensei. Do you know where you are?" There were a lot of cuts, as Obito had told him, but to his relief a great deal of them were superficial. The worst of the bleeding had stopped on its own and what was left didn't worry Shimenawa a great deal. What _did_ worry him was the blood already lost. He had no idea how to replace it unless he managed to get Kakashi lucid again, because he had little to no clue where fox demons fit in the chart of blood types.

"Kakashi," he placed his other hand on Kakashi's face, pulling back a lock of hair that had matted to his cheek, "Kakashi, can you tell me where you are?"

Kakashi whimpered and a shudder passed through his body at his teacher's touch, and he pulled back a little further into himself, giving a faint, jerky shake of his head. "Don't go... Didn't mean... didn't mean it... meant different, I tried, I tried I tried... Obito... He wouldn't stop touching, I tried I can't I can't I tried I tried I tried I tried..." His words grew more high-pitched and hysterical and finally dissolved entirely into incoherent whimpering.

"Didn't mean what?" Shimenawa coaxed, hoping to get some kind of answer if he played along. What he could tell so far didn't make a great deal of sense, bit he was beginning to have a vague idea. Maybe if he asked the right questions.

"Did something... happen to Obito?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to set Kakashi off but unwilling to take the chance of avoiding the question for the sake of his conscience.

Obito's eyes widened a little as something dawned on him. _Something_. What was it? He tried to remember what Kakashi was talking about because suddenly, those words sounded horribly familiar.

"Don't put it in. Don't put it back in." Kakashi's voice sounded tearful, exhausted. Begging but hopeless. "Twenty-eight... twenty-nine-thirty-he's _dead _already don't do it, don't do it anymore..." There were tears tracing down his cheeks again now. One of them met Shimenawa's hand where it still rested on the boy's face, rolling down the heel of his palm.

Instinctively, Shimenawa wiped it away, still trying to make sense of Kakashi's words.

"S-sensei," came a pitiful whimper from behind him. Shimenawa turned to see Obito clutching his chest, doubling over as though in pain. His eyes widened.

"Obito? What's wrong?" he asked, torn between his two hurt and terrified boys.

"It's my fault," came Obito's whimpered response, "All my fault. He's like this and it's always my fault. _Why can't I stop hurting him?_" Obito pointed to a place on his chest, right side, between his third and fourth ribs.

"T..thirty-one. Right here. Pushed into my lung. This morning, on the news... murder happened, just like mine. I should've turned it off but... but..." Obito pressed his hands over the imaginary wound, blood seeping from between his hands still as though something was really there. "Why can't I ever remember in time? Please, Kakashi, stop thinking about it. It was awful and... and it was cruel and it was unfair but it wasn't your fault! It was a stupid life anyway! Kakashi, _please!_" Obito's voice dropped to something far quieter, lost and very much alone.

"..._come back._"

Shimenawa couldn't tell whether the words were having an effect on Kakashi or not; but they were certainly affecting _him. _The inside of his chest still felt taut and tight with his heart pounding against it like a drum and now -- well, now he just kind of felt like throwing up -- _Obito, you were murdered?_

How many horrible deaths did you go through? How many did Kakashi watch...?

"Thirty-one," Kakashi mumbled, making his teacher start a little, and the kitsune sucked in a shuddering breath. Obito reached past Shimenawa and took one of Kakashi's hands in his, bringing it to the place on his chest where the fatal wound had been.

"Thirty-one," Obito agreed quietly, "But it's not there anymore, Kakashi. I'm okay now. That was a long time ago, Kakashi. I need you, remember? So please..."

Somewhere along the line, Kakashi had gradually begun to quiet; now his gaze slowly, shakily traveled across his arm up to where Obito had placed it against his own chest, as though making some kind of realization. The fingers splayed against Obito's blood-spattered shirt flexed a little, experimentally.

"I'm eighteen now," Obito continued, almost made breathless with relief as Kakashi at the very least seemed to stop reliving his murder, "It's been a whole five years since I was thirteen. And I'm fine. Those people can't hurt me anymore, Kakashi. It's okay. _I'm_ okay. You were the very best to me, even then. Did you know that? You couldn't've saved me because... because there was never any saving me, but all of those guys turned up accidentally dead since the rain washed all the evidence away. I got to move on in peace and it was really nice. So don't feel bad anymore, okay, Kakashi? Come back to us." He was babbling just a little, but he was hoping that at least the sound of his voice would get through to Kakashi if not the words.

Kakashi's eyes were widening slightly, as his gaze inched upward past Obito's chest to find the boy's face. He took a deep breath as he looked back down to where his hand rested again. Back up. Back down. He stared at that single spot.

"I...I want... to see." He was shaking a little again; in increments it came back to him that he could feel Sensei's hand against his face, and smell bloodsmell, and there was the ghost of some dull sensation throbbing distantly in his chest and limbs. "Let... me see..." His hand made a claw against Obito's bloodied shirt, and otherwise he did not move.

Obito nodded quickly tugged off his shirt slightly awkwardly as his right hand protested sharply to any attempt to use it, then brought Kakashi's hand to his now bare chest.

"See? No wounds. No scars. I've never looked better, don't you think?" Obito laughed a little bit desperately, the way someone laughed after watching his heart get torn out.

Kakashi felt at it -- he looked at it and fairly petted it and felt mesmerized with it because there was nothing there, _nothing there, _it was smooth as the day Obito was born, and he took a long deep shaky breath and the bloodsmell was a _little _bit Obito's but _mostly, _mostly it was _his _and that was okay because _Obito was okay. _He was alive and standing around and kind of smiling and there was no one holding him down pounding into him until he bled, sticking the knife through his chest again and again and again and again and it spurted and _but that wasn't happening. _

"...'s not... happening," he mumbled to himself, to confirm it out loud, to make it real. And his face twisted up a little and he started to cry again from the sudden sheer _relief._

Obito reached out and pulled Kakashi into his arms, dizzy with relief himself that he had finally, _finally_ gotten through to Kakashi. For a few, precious seconds, he simply held on and held on and remembered not to pet Kakashi like he wanted to because there was enough blood everywhere and held on some more, because this time he _could_. And when he couldn't let himself cling to his relief any longer, he looked up at Shimenawa.

"Sensei," he whispered, still holding Kakashi protectively, "Is he... hurt bad?"

'_Just a little longer_,' Shimenawa thought to himself before he answered, _'Just a little longer to see this through._'

"No, not bad," he reassured, "Most of the... wounds healed by themselves. The only thing I'm worried about is... is all the..."

'_Just a little longer_.' Shimenawa cleared his throat, briefly glancing at his house call bag just to have something to focus on.

"...blood he's already lost. I'm not really sure how his physiology works now that he's a kitsune."

Kakashi curled up a little in Obito's embrace, still crying weakly, his hand unmoving from its spot on the other boy's chest; the vibrations of Obito's heartbeat underneath were nice, human and reassuring. Kakashi was exhausted; he had felt so _much _over the span of the last several hours that right now, overextended and overstimulated, it was starting to feel like he couldn't feel much of anything at all. He welcomed the numbness gratefully, found it a blessing, as much as he was capable of consciously registering it.

"I suppose the best thing to do is patch him up the old fashioned way and wait until he's... rested some before doing something more permanent," Shimenawa continued, almost glad that his heart was already in too many pieces to break any further. "Can you get him to sit back for me, Obito?"

Very carefully, Obito coaxed Kakashi so that the other boy was sitting in his lap, Kakashi's back to his chest; the kitsune looked around a little as he was moved, seeming confused, but complied without a fuss. One hand crept into Obito's good one and Obito squeezed it tight, whispering quiet, soothing nonsense about ramen and why the color orange was greatly superior to red and why candy was scientifically the best thing to have for breakfast and lunch. Dinner, of course, was reserved for ramen. Shimenawa, in the mean time, focused chakra into his hands for the first time in a very long time, hoping that his abilities as a medic hadn't atrophied. He brought his hands over each of Kakashi's cuts, mending the torn skin.

"Obito, your hand," he nodded once he had finished with Kakashi. He only saw how deep the cuts in Obito's fingers were as he healed them and the sight made him shake his head, but he was wordlessly glad to still know his shousen jutsu.

"There," he sighed as he finished, physical exhaustion settling in over his already overwhelming emotional exhaustion, "You two shouldn't stay here tonight. Do you think you would be okay on my couch for the night?" Obito only nodded as he stood, helping Kakashi up with him. He didn't want to be in the apartment the way it was now. It triggered too many memories, made him feel confused about things that he should never have doubts about.

"Can we... use your bathroom, Sensei? I want to... I want to clean him up, " Obito asked quietly, the hand holding Kakashi's squeezing slightly.

"Of course," Shimenawa said gently. Now that the crisis point was past, it was getting a little harder to make himself think properly; but the young doctor let reflex take over and moved to straighten Kakashi's blood-soaked, ruined yukata, pulling it closed and tying the obi a little tighter so the boy wouldn't be walking half-naked out on the street. He really needed a change of clothes, and undoubtedly if someone else between here and Shimenawa's chanced to see such a gruesome apparition as they passed, people would talk, but right now somehow it seemed best to just get out of this apartment as soon as possible. Vaguely, Shimenawa tried to think whether there was anything here the boys would need, but -- well, he'd just provide for them out of what he had at home. They needed to go.

"All right, let's get out of here." He looked between the pair of them, debated carrying Kakashi, who was swaying slightly on his feet; debated trying to ask him to turn into a fox, but he didn't know how that would affect the boy's injuries and, at this particular moment, was frankly slightly afraid of the possibility that he might not turn back. Despite his thinness, though, Kakashi was heavier than he looked, and Shimenawa didn't think it wise to risk trying to carry him right now. Walking it was.

"Come on. We'll go slow."

Had Obito not been already exhausted from work before all this happened, he would have carried Kakashi himself. As it was, all of his limbs felt as though they had been turned to stone or something far heavier. So instead, he brought Kakashi's arm across his shoulders, allowing the other boy to lean on him as much as he needed.

Somehow, the three of them made it back.

----------------

As Obito closed the bathroom door behind him, he thought he heard the sound of water running from the kitchen. After showing them to the bathroom and bringing them towels, Shimenawa-sensei had left them in a bit of a hurry, saying he had forgotten to do something important. Obito had thought he saw Shimenawa dab at the corner of his eyes with a sleeve and thought it best to let him do whatever he needed to do. So Obito gave his once and always sensei a tight hug and went on to lead Kakashi to the bathroom.

"Hey, Kakashi," he began once the door was closed, trying to sound cheerful and probably failing miserably, "You remember that one time we went on that mission to kill those traveling people and we were staked out at the onsen? And I was talking about how much I wanted to get to have a bath before the targets got there so I could sneak a peek at the girls' changing room and then--" _Rin beat me within an inch of my life._ "--the people got there before we got the chance?"

Kakashi slowly looked up at the other boy from where Obito had sat him down atop the toilet seat lid, tail curling into his lap. He didn't say anything back, but he was listening, as much as he could manage. That had been... He thought he sort of remembered it; it made his head hurt to think too hard, but a few vague images were kind enough to float into his mind. A big old willow tree; Sensei looking amused and Rin...

"Rin was mad," he echoed Obito's thoughts vaguely, gaze drifting down toward his bare toes.

"Yep," Obito grinned rather agreeably, going to turn on the water in the bathtub. God, he missed those days--

"But that's not the point of the story. The point is, what I _really_ wanted was to get you all naked and in the water. Or not in the water. Either would've worked, but you know, right then we hated each others' guts so it wasn't like I could be all, 'Kakashi, come take a bath with me!' So the best I could do was hope Sensei would make you come like always," Obito continued, looking wistful, "So this is really, really cool because we don't hate each other passionately anymore. Or, well, dispassionately on your end. And I get to get you all naked and in the water. What do you think, Kakashi?"

Naked. In the water. Unfortunately, the finer innuendo of the statement went straight over Kakashi's head. Water was for... for... drinking. Cleaning things. He looked down at himself for a moment and realized he felt kind of... sticky, and bloodsmell was still everywhere and so... oh. Water. With Obito. He wanted to be with Obito. He didn't want to be by himself. It was scary.

"...Okay," he said as his gaze trailed back upward, looking vaguely confused.

"Alright, then!" Obito smiled a very Obito, very devilish smile (only it was an Obito-devilish smile, so it had all the effect of evil spelled with a 'b' instead of a 'v'), "Are you going make me strip you? I'll have you know I've gotten very good at undressing people."

Obito... stripping him.

That one appeared to get through, from the faint flush that dusted Kakashi's pale cheeks; he couldn't quite think of why at the moment, but the thought pinged some ill-defined feeling of embarrassment. He looked down at his dirtied yukata, pulled a little at the fabric, and... just blinked at it for a moment, trying to make his brain work. He was so tired...

"Guess so," Obito managed a laugh that time, moving forward to rather carelessly strip Kakashi's yukata away now that he wasn't worried it was going to tear any wounds open. And abruptly found that he was done.

"Huh," he had to bite back a rather inappropriate grin because, really, any sort of grin was inappropriate when seeing someone's naked body for the first time, "I never pegged you as the type, Kakashi. Ah, well. Welcome to the club!" Wiggling a little bit, Obito managed to get out of pants without toppling over and then was rather naked himself. He would have been a bit more self-conscious if only Kakashi wasn't half checked out of his mind at the moment and probably wouldn't even remember come morning. Hopefully Kakashi would be better in the morning.

"You know, washing blood off is waaaaaay too familiar to me to be healthy," Obito mused as he helped Kakashi into the bathtub, and then climbed in himself. He picked up a washcloth and a bar of soap before looking up at Kakashi again. "Want help with this too?"

Kakashi blinked at the items for a moment as they were held out in front of him. Washcloth. He knew what you did with a washcloth. It wasn't that hard.

"Um... I can..." He trailed off for a moment before reaching out for the bathing supplies wordlessly. Feeling a strange mixture of relief and a little bit of guilty almost-disappointment, Obito handed over both items in his hands and found himself his own so that he could get clean as well. Kakashi looked down at himself again, preparing the soapy washcloth on autopilot. He scrubbed away some blood on his chest a little. It was a weird thing to watch; one minute there was brown-red blood, and the next, suddenly pink skin... He did it again. Red blood, pink skin... red blood... pink skin... red... pink...

At some point he sort of forgot he was supposed to be cleaning, and just stared down at the bits of dried blood floating in the water for a while, thoughts dialing back to blissful white noise. After a minute or so of this, Obito picked up on the fact that he'd stopped moving and turned to look at him, blinking.

"Hey, Kakashi...?" he asked uncertainly, reaching out to touch his friend's shoulder, "Is everything okay?"

"Hn...?" Kakashi blinked over at the other boy for a second... oh, it was just Obito. He offered the other boy an absent, spacey sort of smile; and then after a moment longer, belatedly registered that he'd been asked a question.

"...Tired," he volunteered, giving his head a faint shake. Had he been meant to be doing something...? He looked down at himself again, remembered the washcloth and soap he was holding. Oh.

Obito's expression of worry didn't fade, beginning to look a little troubled as he rinsed the last of the dried blood off his body. Everything had been going so well. Life had been nice and structured and every few days there was a chance that Obito and Shimenawa would get a glimpse of the person Kakashi had once been, either by a particular expression or an offhanded comment. Things were really starting to get better, and then... how was Obito supposed to prevent these things from happening? He couldn't remember all of his incarnations and with the memories that came with the last one, was pretty sure he didn't want to. How many different ways had he died? Which ones would break down Kakashi like this? Obito didn't know what to do, didn't know how he could make it so they would never have another day like this. Never watch the news again, for one. Still... Obito blinked, realizing he, too, had managed to zone out.

"Uh, well, uh," he began, trying to get his mind back on track, "After we finish we can borrow some of Sensei's clothes and go to sleep?" He was fairly ready to pass out himself.

Kakashi nodded faintly, though it looked more like he was nodding to himself than to Obito. "That's... yeah," he managed, looking down at himself and the blood still coating his arms. He needed... to... finish. To finish cleaning. That was it. Sluggishly, he rubbed at the top of one wrist with the washcloth.

"Here," Obito sighed, though he did it more fondly than out of irritation. He took Kakashi's washcloth out of his hand and began scrubbing away at the blood on his friend's arms for him. Then he craned his neck to look around Kakashi to make sure they'd gotten all of it.

"Alright, you're all clean. Will you take a towel and go ask Sensei for some clothes while I clean up in here?" Obito made sure to add the bit about the towel just in case. The day had been hard enough for Shimenawa without adding the trauma of seeing his former student naked.

Kakashi nodded, hanging onto the thought carefully. Towel. Clothes. He could do that. The washcloth and soap were left to sink to the bottom of the tub as he carefully climbed out, picking up one of the fluffy towels sitting next to the sink. This...

He looked down at himself. He was naked. Right. Of course. Clothes.

He tied the towel around his waist in a rather clumsy knot; it slipped down a little to rest on his hips as he tugged his tail upward to swing out the top, soaked silver fur sending water droplets to plop on the floor as it swished back and forth erratically. Now... clothes. Sensei. Clothes.

It was cold outside the bathroom and he shivered a little as he stepped out, but somehow he felt indefinably better than he had before, a little calmer, more relaxed. He wandered through the house dripping water over the floor until he reached the doorway to the kitchen. It sounded like the faucet was still running; and over that he could hear the clink of dishes, and just barely over that, the sound of faint, sniffling breathing. Kakashi's own breath caught in his throat a little, and he hesitated a moment before padding inside.

"Is everything okay?" Shimenawa asked in a slightly softer than usual voice, casually wiping his face with the back of his sleeve before he turned to face Kakashi. He had heard the boy coming down the hall or else he might have been caught off guard, which was a sight he had decided that Obito and Kakashi should never have to see. Speaking of sights-- Shimenawa blinked rapidly at the unexpected... state of dress Kakashi was in, towel so precariously low and clinging to nonexistent hips.

"...do you need something?"

"U-um..." It was Sensei and some vague niggling of a half-thought told him anything else would be rude, so Kakashi paused and prodded his brain until it produced a complete sentence. "Could we borrow... clothes?" he asked, meeting the other man's eyes for a moment before his gaze backed away shyly. The backside of his towel was soaked, and his wet, swishing tail continued to shed water on the kitchen tiles.

"Ah, this way, then," Shimenawa nodded, having thought as much. He led Kakashi into his bedroom, not minding the trail of water the boy's tail was leaving. He could clean it up later, and he had a feeling he was going to need a lot of cleaning to keep himself occupied until he was tired enough to sleep. Because while he was impossibly exhausted, he was too worked up to be actually sleepy.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked conversationally as he went into his wardrobe for spare pajamas, finding a set that was slightly too small for him for Kakashi and one that was slightly too big for Obito. He paused, looking not exactly concerned but slightly wary. "...did Obito flood the bathroom again?"

Kakashi paused and thought about it, and supposed he was, and nodded. Followed by thinking about Obito, and shaking his head. He just stood there looking at Sensei while the man rifled through clothing, noting that something seemed off... He smelled wrong. That was it. Sensei smelled like crying.

Kakashi was still feeling terribly fuzzy, but at the very least, he knew that crying was bad. Sensei shouldn't cry. Frowning slightly, the kitsune stepped closer; he hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around Shimenawa's chest, having some vague sense that he himself was the cause of all the bad feelings.

At the embrace, Shimenawa found himself dropping the clothes he was holding without even thinking about doing it, arms going around Kakashi almost instinctively. He did not quite understand that Kakashi was doing it to comfort him rather than seeking comfort, because he was so used to being there for the boys all the time, back when they had truly been children and his students. Kakashi had always thought of him as a childish adult, he knew, but he had always fancied himself a grown-up in that if there was a worry or a pain he could take away from his students, he did it and he did it gladly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked gently, voice strangely tight.

Kakashi pressed his wet self against Shimenawa's shirt and pulled in his arms a little more, and frowned a little because now he felt bad and... and Sensei felt bad and he didn't know what to say, couldn't think right.

"...Don't be sad," he murmured, resting his chin atop his teacher's shoulder.

Shimenawa couldn't help his surprise at Kakashi's observation. It..._ moved_ him. It honestly, honestly did. That even in Kakashi's state of mind, the boy still noticed that he was sad and more than that, was concerned about it. Even when nearly everything in Kakashi's world had gone horribly wrong, Kakashi still didn't want him to be sad. It touched him in ways he couldn't express. And at the same time, it made his heart ache for the boy. Kakashi had always been so... absolutely awful at being concerned for his own well being.

Shimenawa gave Kakashi a tight squeeze, blinking away a few tears that he shed for how much those three simple words had affected him.

"Don't worry, Kakashi," he smiled, "I'm crying right now because I'm happy." Then that moment came where it felt natural to step away from the embrace and go on with what they had been doing. Shimenawa let it pass. He wanted to hold on a little longer.

Kakashi accepted the words without comment, and kept his arms wrapped around Sensei because it felt good, and Sensei was sad except he was happy, but, maybe he was sad too... Kakashi didn't know and he couldn't quite wrap his head around it right now, so he stopped trying, and just gave a little sigh and stood there quietly embracing the man who, really, may as well have been his father.

Obito, in the meantime, managed to scrub any residue of blood off the tub and floor and had managed to get the washcloths mostly white again. He got a little worried when he finished up and Kakashi hadn't come back and he didn't hear any other movement in the house. Not very worried, because he knew Shimenawa-sensei was still around and nothing _too_ bad could have happened, but after the day they had just had, it was impossible for Obito _not_ to worry. So, hastily wrapping a towel around himself, he scampered out of the bathroom to see what was up.

He peeked into Shimenawa's bedroom only after checking everywhere else and found them standing there, embracing just as Shimenawa told Kakashi that he was crying because he was happy. Obito watched them a moment longer before deciding it was best just to let them have their moment because they both seemed to need it, so he began tiptoeing back to the kitchen to get himself something to drink. He was trying so hard to sneak away that he neglected to realize how wet the floor was. A plus B equals--

"SHIT!"

In a display that would have deeply shamed Obito's very traditionally Uchiha father, the former ninja slipped and abruptly found himself staring at the light fixture in the ceiling. Which, he soon found, was rather painful to look into. So much for not disturbing Kakashi and Sensei. If the sound of all a hundred and eighty-some pounds of slightly wet Obito hitting the very wet floor hadn't alerted them to his presence, the yelped profanity was a bit hard to miss. Obito didn't even bother with getting up. He felt too stupid to move. Instead, he closed his eyes and resolved to beg Shimenawa-sensei to re-teach him how to be a ninja in the morning. 

In the bedroom, Kakashi's tail pricked up as he suddenly felt a little more awake; Shimenawa blinked over toward the doorway and took the kitsune's hand, picking up the fallen pajamas, and the pair of them made their way out toward the kitchen with no words necessary. At the sight of Obito sprawled flat on his back over the kitchen tiles, carefully wrapped towel hanging half-open, Kakashi frowned slightly and walked over to curl up beside the other boy on the floor. Shimenawa, for his part, just smiled as he looked at them and felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes again; and ignoring them, helplessly began to laugh.

"No, not right now, Kakashi," Obito groaned, though he tugged Kakashi closer contrary to his words, "I'm busy being ashamed of myself." Then, slowly and mechanically, the way someone would clean up after breaking a very important and irreplaceable vase, he tugged his towel back into place. The vase in question was Obito's dignity. He pouted without opening his eyes at Shimenawa's laughter but inwardly decided it was worth it. Real, honest laughter sounded very, very good after the events of the day. After a moment, he began to laugh as well.

Kakashi was still a little out of it for laughing; but it seemed like everybody was happy again, and really, that was the important part. He leaned a little against Obito's side where the other boy had pulled him, not thinking of much but feeling a fuzzy sort of contentment.

After the two of them had calmed back down a little, Shimenawa wiped the remnants of tears out of his eyes -- from laughing this time -- and walked over to offer Obito a hand up, gesturing toward the pajamas he was carrying under one shoulder. "I found you both some clothes," he said, and couldn't _quite _resist adding, "though not quite in time, I guess," as he glanced down toward the young man's towel with a good-natured smirk.

Obito felt his cheeks burn a little as he took Shimenawa's hand, helping Kakashi up as well once he was on his feet again.

"I... have nothing to be embarrassed of!" he announced, tugging his towel a bit self-consciously, "It's just cold right now and... and... Ireallywannagotosleepnight!" With that, Obito stole both sets of pajamas from Shimenawa and scampered off for the bathroom to change.

"C'mon, Kakashi!"

Obito had decided about two minutes ago that it really would be best if he just blocked the whole day from memory. 


	9. Chapter 9

Second Sight

_Chapter Nine_

It was the most beautiful sight Obito had ever seen. A bowl of ramen, hot and steaming and full of yummy things like kamaboko and nori and green onions, sitting right before him. Only it was a really big bowl, big like the size of an above ground pool big. And there was a ladder to help him climb to the top, and a diving board made out of chopsticks. There was no point in waiting, no point in putting it off. The broth wasn't getting and warmer. Licking his lips, Obito scrambled up the ladder and--_whoa_. Kakashi was sitting on one of the pieces of kamaboko. _Naked_. Tail draped over his boy parts. Which was kind of sad, actually. But then Kakashi was smiling and motioning for him to swim over, and, oh sweet merciful Inari Kakashi was dipping his hand in the broth and licking it off and... and... Obito dived in and began swimming over. But his foot was caught in some noodles! They were pulling him under! No, the ramen! Naked Kakashi! Someone was calling his name, someone--

"Obito!"

Obito opened his eyes, blinking at the blurry figure that was hovering over him.

"Shimenawa-sensei?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, "Are you... what's... is that a _pink apron_?"

"It's red," Shimenawa corrected, shaking his head, "And what was that about ramen and naked Kakashi?"

"...oh _no_," Obito whimpered, burying his face in his hands. How much more of his personal life was Shimenawa going to figure out?

"...do I smell breakfast?" he asked instead, sniffing at the air, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah. That's what I came to wake you up for. Breakfast is ready," Shimenawa nodded, looking rather pleased with himself and happy. Obito narrowed his eyes warily. It looked an awful lot like Shimenawa was up to something.

"...Nnn?"

A pair of mismatched eyes poked themselves out from the sheets atop the pull-out couch, and then a nose, and... Kakashi stopped there. He blinked blearily up at Shimenawa, brow furrowing slightly in sleepy confusion. Were they at Sensei's house...? Why were they here? He tried to think about it for a moment but it all seemed very fuzzy, and for some reason he very quickly lost his interest in even the thought of finding out. ... He was just too sleepy.

"...Sensei...?" he murmured in the way of a question, rubbing the back of his hand across his face as he instinctually snuggled up a little closer to Obito.

"Breakfast is ready for you, too," Shimenawa smiled, tugging the sheets down so that Kakashi was more than a tuft of hair against Obito's side, "You two get up, brush your teeth, and meet me in the kitchen okay?" That said, Shimenawa turned and left for the kitchen again, humming pleasantly to himself.

Obito watched him go, then rolled over and slid his arms around Kakashi waist, holding him tightly.

"Don't worry about Sensei. He's used to me. He'll be back in about five minutes to try again," Obito mumbled, closing his eyes again as he nuzzled Kakashi's neck, "...you okay?"

Kakashi made a pleased little noise, and buried his face in Obito's hair, breathing in Obitosmell and feeling the soft strands tickle his nose as he nuzzled a little in return. Obito's words pricked at some niggling undefinable feeling, a confusing one he couldn't quite name or explain... but Kakashi was pretty used to being confused, so he took it in stride. Besides that, he was warm and safe and he got to touch Obito and there was Sensei and there was also breakfast. Life was pretty okay.

"Yeah," he answered, thinking about maybe going and investigating the very promising foodsmell wafting from the kitchen, but staying in his spot. It felt too nice to move just yet.

When Shimenawa came back to check on them five or so minutes later, as predicted, he was only able to smile to himself and head back for the kitchen to reheat all the food. Bothering them when they looked so content curled up in each other's arms would have been wrong. Completely heartlessly wrong, not unlike drowning a sack of kittens or kicking an orphaned puppy into the middle of the road.

Obito would have agreed, because just as Shimenawa sneaked away, he leaned up slightly to kiss Kakashi lightly on the lips. It was a hesitant sort of kiss, uncertain and, well... Obito never knew exactly where they stood. Every day was like starting over again, but somehow he didn't really mind. Because in spite of any opinion Kakashi might have had about him their first time around, Obito actually enjoyed having something to work toward. The kisses felt better because he felt like he had to earn them. And, well, of course they also felt better because it was Kakashi and Obito had spent way too many of his childhood years bordering on pyromania out of frustration for harboring a crush on possibly one of the must insufferable people he knew. And now he was curled up in bed with him. Life was pretty okay on Obito's end, too.

Kakashi's tail curled around the side of Obito's leg, and he returned the kiss softly. He wasn't at all sure why, but he felt... relieved?

After a while, their lips parted naturally; and he looked down at Obito with his tail batting against the other boy's leg a little, and slightly cocked his head in the direction of the kitchen.

"Breakfast?" he suggested. He couldn't resist investigating.

"Won't be as yummy as you," Obito reported decisively, then grinned, "But don't tell Sensei that. It'll break his heart." He wiggled his way out of bed and held his hand out to Kakashi, helping the other boy up before leading the way to the kitchen.

Shimenawa was sitting at the table waiting for them with three servings of rice congee, pickled cucumbers, fried eggs, fish, tofu with soy sauce paste and sesame oil, and a few other small dishes Obito couldn't immediately identify. When Shimenawa saw them enter, he smiled and stood.

"I thought we'd try something Kakashi used to nag me to make," he explained, then gestured to the seats, "That one's yours, Obito. And this one here is Kakashi's."

Because Obito was eager to eat just about anything, he scampered over to his seat and sat down, peering at both his and Kakashi's bowls. He saw that Shimenawa had taken the liberty to draw in each of their bowls with soy sauce and that Kakashi's looked something like a sleeping fox while the picture in his own bowl seemed to be a couple squiggles.

"Hey, Sensei?" he asked, blinking, "What'd you draw for me?" Shimenawa coughed and hid his mouth behind his hand.

"A towel."

Kakashi blinked at Obito's suddenly embarrassed face as he walked over to his own seat, adjusting his pajama pants. They didn't quite want to stay on; his tail jutted out directly above his buttocks and the pants couldn't be pulled up any further without pinching the appendage uncomfortably, so the elastic waist rested quite low on his narrow hips, threatening to come off with every step he took. He frowned at them as he bunched up a bit of the waist in one fist, holding onto it until he was sitting down.

Something about his arms looked weird... but that... no. Whatever it had been was gone before it finished; Kakashi shook his head a little bit to dislodge the half-formed thought, and turned to appreciating the impressive spread of breakfast food before him. Rice congee! The kitsune in him didn't care a whit, but there was a human boy peeking out from somewhere being quite approving, and also salivating a bit while he was at it.

He looked up at Shimenawa with rather wide eyes and, finding he couldn't really think of anything to say, just smiled his gratitude.

Noticing the way Kakashi walked to the table, Obito found himself regretting that he'd sat down first. Because having an incredibly questionable relationship with a highly unstable boy while being a hormonal eighteen year old wasn't really the best place to be, and Obito had to make the best of it and enjoy the little things in life. Like Kakashi's pants trying to abandon him as he walked.

Shimenawa on the other hand did his very best not to look because last night had been distressing enough, as amusing as it had been. He smiled back and reached out to ruffle Kakashi's hair, glad that at the very least some things never changed.

"Eat up, boys," he urged gently, with a slightly suspicious little smile, "The two of you are going to a festival a few cities over today. Because Obito's work thinks he had major surgery yesterday and won't be expecting him, and I'm going to be busy today and can't have you two underfoot, and you kids need a little fun anyway."

Kakashi, already mid-congee, blinked over at the doctor surprisedly as he swallowed. "...We are? ... They do?" His gaze turned toward Obito as his brow furrowed slightly in confusion. Obito had definitely _not _had major surgery yesterday. Probably. No. Obito had been busy. Having major surgery? Having work. It was work. He got up and went to work and he...

Well, it got fuzzy from there, but never mind, it didn't matter anyway. Obito wasn't going to work and Sensei was busy and they were going to a festival. That was all. He didn't think he'd ever been to a festival before, or at least he couldn't remember a time, which maybe meant that he'd just been and didn't remember wait, had he been with Sensei and Obito and Rin and Obito threw a taiyaki at him, oh, he _had _been to a festival, hadn't he. He blinked.

"...Don't throw any taiyaki at me," he made sure to tell Obito in advance, very seriously.

"Huh?" Obito blinked before the memory came to him as well and he found himself grinning, "Okay, but other foods are fair game, yeah?" He paused briefly then to look down at himself, then peered over at Kakashi.

"Sensei, I still have clothes here but what're we going to do about Kakashi?" he asked, personally not minding if Kakashi had to go around with his pants constantly in danger of falling down, but he imagined it would be a little hard to have fun at the festival with everyone staring at Kakashi's tail. (And/or ass.)

"Hm? The two of you can go clothes shopping! You two can bond," Shimenawa laughed, patting Obito on the shoulder, "He can borrow one of my jackets to hide his tail for the time being."

Kakashi wiggled his tail a little, and it took him a minute to remember why he would even _need _to hide it, for which he had the presence of mind to feel just a little silly. Of course. Humans didn't have tails. He didn't used to have one either... right?

He looked down at himself, flopping his long, bushy white tail into his lap and cocking his head slightly to give it a critical glance. He was pretty sure he'd always had a tail, but he was pretty sure he hadn't always had a tail. Well, that wasn't right. He'd always had a tail _now, _but when he'd been human...

Something was still niggling at him.

Attention wandering, he found himself examining the other appendage resting in his lap, one of his arms. Sensei had loaned him a sleeveless pajama top and it was more skin than he was used to looking at, wearing yukata everywhere as he generally did; idly he turned his hand over to the inside, one finger tracing squiggles down the veins of the inner wrist and  
across the expanse of pale white-pink.

Red.

Red. Pink.

...He paused, and frowned faintly. Turned his arm over to the other side again, running a hand down it.

Smooth and pink.

It looked alien all of a sudden. Someone else's body. No, his body but maybe in another life no, but where--

"'s weird," he mumbled purely to himself as he stared confusedly down at the perfect smooth flesh.

Obito froze mid-bite, spoon stopping halfway to his mouth. He uncertainly set his spoon back down and exchanged a worried look with Shimenawa. A chill touched the back of his neck.

'_No,_' he thought to himself, '_Not again. Not so soon. I can't do it again today. I'm not... I..._'

"What's weird?" he asked quietly despite his mind screaming for him to stop, that he really didn't want to know, to try to let the moment pass.

The absent expression the kitsune wore made it clear Kakashi was still talking to himself as he ran fingers up his opposite arm.

"...no marks... scars or..."

Why weren't there... there were supposed to be...

He ran a finger over his left eyelid, down his cheek, purely on instinct. It was smooth. That was right, no, how could he even think that it was the _exact opposite _of

Abruptly something else clicked and he pulled up the front of his shirt, just enough to see more smooth pale skin with nothing on it.

Kakashi frowned down at his lap, still feeling confused, and more than a little distressed. He was sure all of a sudden; he didn't know why or what made it so upsetting but -- there were at least supposed to be _marks._

Obito brought his hands down to his lap and dug his nails into his thighs, forcing himself into the blank sort of calm he had learned to retreat to whenever his father was particularly drunk and raging at him. He tried so hard to forget that Kakashi was out of his mind most days, tried to forget that Kakashi just wasn't okay and quite possibly never would be. Did he not even remember their first incarnations together? Just a little bit before, he'd recalled the festival they had been to together, so perhaps it was only memories after Obito... after... God, why had he been so stupid?

"Kakashi..." he whispered helplessly, not knowing what to say or do. He cast Shimenawa an imploring look, begging him to do _something_ the way a child begged a parent to somehow fix a world that was too much for him to handle.

Shimenawa swallowed a little, and took a deep breath, and got up out of his seat to go crouch as close to eye-level with Kakashi as he could manage. The kitsune had pulled his arms around himself, still frowning down at them a little; Shimenawa debated for a moment before reaching out to cup the boy's face in his hand. "Kakashi?" he said, much more calmly than he felt, gently nudging Kakashi's face up to meet his gaze.

"...Sensei?" Kakashi's voice was quiet, his expression a little sad somehow, a little lost. "...They were there, weren't they...?"

The doctor swallowed again, throat tight, and tried not to regret their suddenly soured morning too much. It wasn't Kakashi's fault. Really, on the scale of things that _could _have happened after the ordeal of yesterday, this was pretty mild.

"They used to be there," he reassured Kakashi gently, reaching up to slowly stroke the silver hair. He couldn't quite think of anything else to say, so he chose the honest approach. "But they're not anymore. Some of them were from a long time ago, your previous lives," and he hedged a bet that the boy's life as a ninja probably wasn't the only one in which Kakashi had acquired some scars, "so you don't have them on your body in this life. Some of them were..." he stumbled for just a moment, "recent... I healed those, so there aren't any marks anymore."

Kakashi glanced away from Shimenawa, back down at his torso for a moment. He was still frowning a little, but, at the least, felt less upset. Well. If Sensei took them away, they probably needed to be taken away. Right?

...He still looked funny.

"It's... it's better that they're gone, Kakashi," Obito managed quietly, though he did not precisely move or look over or do anything but talk to the tablecloth, "I used to have scars too, remember? Lots and lots of them, just like you. But they're all gone now. And it's better that way." He hadn't meant to do it, hadn't meant for his hand to press against his chest, over his third and fourth ribs, hadn't meant to brush his fingers over his eyes at how strange it was to see again. He had only spent a few moments with his eyes open without being able to see anything, listening to Rin and Kakashi go. It had only been a few seconds, maybe a minute. His eyes had felt open, felt wide open but all there was, was darkness and then somehow even the darkness went away. It had been a very lonely feeling and Obito might have cried had his eyes not been too damaged to do so.

Maybe he'd cried anyway.

"It's better this way. Things are better now," Obito's voice dropped to a whisper when it cracked.

Shimenawa half-rose from his spot, taking another deep breath as he looked between the pair still at the table. If both of his boys started doing this at once... Maybe he should just Kage Bunshin himself, he thought with a rather unhappy mental laugh.

Kakashi appeared to consider the words for a moment. Rather than hurry concernedly to Obito's side as he might have in another mood, the kitsune's gaze drifted vaguely up toward the ceiling. His tail flopped a bit half-heartedly in his lap, and he began tugging on strands of the silver-white fur absently.

"...'s better," he agreed after a moment, quietly. "This time's better. You lived... you're not thirteen..."

He looked back down a moment later, gaze happening to alight on the half-eaten spread of breakfast in front of him, which was rapidly cooling. Cold food was not as yummy, except ice cream. What a shame. Absently, mind still mostly elsewhere, he stuck a finger in the rice congee.

"...never happened before now," he murmured incredulously to himself, pulling it back out to lick off.

Obito turned this time, giving Kakashi a mildly troubled look. He remembered the kitsune mentioning something like that before, back when they first met in the clearing.

"What's never happened before now?" he asked, feeling as though he wanted to know the same way he had wanted his memories back. His curiosity would not allow him to let it be, but he knew he would regret the knowledge the moment he had it. And at the same time, he had a feeling he already knew and only had yet to connect the dots. Kannabi bridge. A gutter on the side of the road. Uchiha Obito, age thirteen. An unidentified boy, between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Thirteen. _Thirteen_.

Kakashi blinked over at the other boy, registering at last that Obito didn't look very good. What could be the matter? Was he sick?

"You never lived past thirteen before," he said matter-of-factly, rising from his seat to start over toward the other boy.

Obito went completely still, eyes widening as his gaze went straight through Kakashi and into the past. It was like a picture book, or a slide show. One violent image after another, each from a very first person point of view. Each of his lives over the past three thousand years. All two hundred and twenty-some of them.

War, war, Chuunin exam, drowning, assault, exposure, sudden illness, chronic illness, neglect, abuse, murder, accident, strangulation, electrocution--how many ways were there for a thirteen year old to die?

"...you _saw_?" he finally managed in a horrified whisper, remembering things that had happened to him that he never wanted anyone to know. Being locked in a cellar until he starved. Being beaten to death behind his school because he had picked the wrong fight. The times he was kidnapped and murdered. The rape, the fear, the shame, the torture. All the times that dying had been the highlight of his life because it meant that no one would ever have to know. But Kakashi knew. And that changed everything. It wasn't just loneliness that had done this to Kakashi. It was having to witness-- it was... it was... _it was all Obito's fault_.

Kakashi's eyes widened a little.

He didn't like that look on Obito's face. That was -- that was a remembering look and Obito didn't need to remember he really really _really __**really**_

"O--Obito?" He hurried over to the other boy's side with a frightened expression, settling on the floor and hugging one of Obito's arms between both of his own, suddenly a little afraid to touch him _too _much.

Obito gripped Kakashi's arm with his free hand, crying that terrifying sort of crying that was really crying at all, that was only tears streaming down someone's cheeks without his knowing. He locked their gazes together as though they were the only two people in the world.

"You can't ever tell, okay?" he begged, voice lost and frightened and deeply shamed, "Don't tell anyone. You can't tell anyone what you saw. Those things never happened. Do you understand, Kakashi? They were a really bad dream and they never happened and you can't let anyone know. No one can know, Kakashi. No one but us and I wish we didn't know but we do but we can't let anyone else know, okay? Don't ever, ever tell. _Please_. Don't ever, ever tell." Even that Kakashi knew made it hard for Obito to look at him, face him, pretend things were the same. He was sure knowing had destroyed who Kakashi was, eroded at it until there was almost nothing left. Sensei couldn't know. Because knowing would change things. Knowing would make Sensei see him differently, see him like... Obito closed his eyes and shook his head.

The look on Kakashi's face turned rather confused; but he was okay with not understanding -- he didn't mind not understanding, there were lots of things he didn't understand but Obito just needed to be -- to be -- _okay _and not have anything bad happening in his head because that... was... _bad _badscarywrong oh god _Obito Obito please don't do it again, please, please--_

"I won't-- I-- I won't tell--" He would do _absolutely anything. _Kakashi threw himself half-over Obito, wrapping his arms tight around the other boy, heart pounding out of his chest.

At some point, Shimenawa had collapsed onto the floor. He didn't entirely understand what had just happened here, although he felt he had just enough of an inkling to justify the shiver creeping up his spine at Obito's words. And Kakashi--

_You never lived past thirteen before._

Said so simply. As if he had been present for every single one.

And suddenly Shimenawa knew it was true.

It was a shame he hadn't known about it at the time; he could've invited Kakashi into the Shinigami's stomach for a round of poker with the assembled Hokages -- and it was when he caught himself having this slightly hysterical thought that he knew things were truly bad.

'_Stop_.' It was a very small voice, nagging in the back of Obito's head, so small that he missed it at first. He just clung on to Kakashi when the other boy wrapped his arms around him, feeling not quite relieved at Kakashi's promise not to tell but at least less on the verge of hysteria.

'_Stop it!_' Obito blinked, trying to understand what he wanted to stop doing. His grip on Kakashi briefly tightened.

'_Look at what you're doing to him!_'

Obito looked. He saw Kakashi panic, felt the way Kakashi's pulse raced. Then he released his breath in a low moan, burying his face against Kakashi's neck.

"I'm sorry," he choked, muffling his voice against Kakashi's hair, "I'm sorry, Kakashi, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to... didn't mean to worry you or... or... I'm sorry for everything and... and... I'm okay, Kakashi, really. I'm okay. I'm okay because... because you're here and you're here now and I'm not alone anymore and I was never alone and oh god I hate being alone but I'm not and I never was, even when I was really scared and really hurt I wasn't alone so... so... so I'm okay, so don't worry about me, okay? I--..."

It felt like a good time to say it.

"..._I love you_."

And then Obito very quietly broke down in Kakashi's arms.

Kakashi swallowed a little and hugged the other boy tighter, looking down on him with slightly wide eyes. This was all still kind of scary but... Obito said he was okay, so -- so he was okay, right? Obito didn't lie to him. He called him a jerk and threw taiyaki but he didn't lie. So he wasn't lying. He was okay. Really okay. Everybody cried sometimes. Even okay people. It was okay. It was okay. He mumbled it under his breath, pressing his cheek against Obito's hair, rocking them back and forth slightly as best he could while sitting in the other boy's lap.

Obito deserved to be okay. And feel good. And be happy and -- that was all Kakashi wanted and...

Obito loved...?

...him.

Obito didn't lie to him.

Because he... loved... him?

_Loved?... _Kakashi? He didn't really understand; it didn't make any sense at all but it... felt nice.

Kakashi sighed quietly.

"Love you too," he murmured, because he didn't lie to Obito either.

The murmured response made Obito smile in spite of his tears and he nodded, clinging on to Kakashi a moment longer before slowly pulling away.

"We should get out of Sensei's hair so he can get his work done," he began, glancing over at a somehow entirely composed Shimenawa (who had stood the moment Obito let go of Kakashi to start gathering dishes), "Sorry about... about breakfast, Sensei."

"It's no worry," Shimenawa dismissed casually, though the plates clattered unusually loudly against each other as he collected them, "It might have been too healthy for you anyway. Wouldn't want it to disagree with you later. Since it's such a long trip out, just stay the night, okay?" He would have liked to claim that he had no ulterior motives but to let the boys have fun, but he wasn't sure he would be able to finish everything he needed to do today. "You can borrow money out of the panda jar for the inn. Oh, and there's a map and some directions for you on the coffee table. Come back here in time for dinner tomorrow and I'll make us red bean popsicles!"

Obito nodded and dried his eyes, standing, still holding on to Kakashi.

"Do you need any help cleaning, Sensei?" he asked, but Shimenawa only shook his head.

"You kids should get going."

"Okay," Obito nodded, taking Kakashi's hand in his, "C'mon, Kakashi. I'll show you where Sensei keeps all of his really fancy clothes."


	10. Chapter 10

Second Sight

_Chapter Ten_

Three or four hours, two train rides, and one eventful round of clothes-shopping later, Obito and Kakashi stood in front of the expansive grounds of a shrine in one of the neighboring cities, where their traditional Winter-Welcoming Festival was being held. The weather was clear, but just cold enough to bite; Kakashi had bundled up in a fluffy down coat borrowed from Sensei, some mittens, and a long scarf (it hadn't quite felt right until he'd pulled it up far enough to cover his nose), but still found himself shivering a little and wishing he could turn into his fox-form so he would have his fur back. And... there were a _lot _of people here. It had been a very long time since he'd been surrounded by this kind of crowd... he wasn't _scared _of them or anything, but instinct -- the intuition of a fox, and the half-remembered reflexes of long ago -- kept him very alert as they walked past the shrine's front gates.

Obito, on the other hand, seemed barely affected by the cold and entirely at home in the crowds. He was excitedly trying to look to look at everything at once as he had never actually left Konoha before, at least not in a very long time, craning his neck this way and that as he tried to make his head turn in physically impossible ways. For the most part he seemed to have recovered from the morning's events, only his hand was still holding onto Kakashi's and was holding it perhaps a little tighter than necessary. Once he actually remembered to, Obito peered over at his walking marshmallow of a friend and grinned.

"You still in there somewhere, Kakashi?"

Kakashi might have been pouting, but it was impossible to tell with the scarf pulled up over his face. They'd also combed some of his messy hair down over his left eye to try to make it stand out a little less; the end result was that besides a single dark eye and silver eyebrow, not much was visible of his expression at all. "I didn't go anywhere. There's still fingers in here." There was definitely a pout in his voice; a moment later he reached out with his free hand to prove it by poking Obito on the nose, tail wiggling a little where he'd curled it around his waist. It felt weird not to have it swinging freely.

At the little poke, Obito wrinkled his nose and then laughed a boyish laugh, swinging their joined hands rather cheerfully.

"So there are. But you never know. You could've poofed away and I could be leading around a giant coat and I probably wouldn't notice," he mused, "Well, at least you don't have to worry about me throwing any taiyaki at you. Even my infallible aim isn't good enough to hit the half a cubic centimeter of you that's not covered in hair or winter clothes." He sighed contently then, going back to looking around for things to do.

"Anything that interests you, Kakashi?" Obito asked in a way that plainly spoke that the boy was only here to entertain Kakashi and eat until he was too full to move and would have to be rolled back to the inn.

"Umm..." Kakashi looked around speculatively as they made their way through the broad isles with their various amusements. There was a _lot _to take in here -- all the people with their peoplesmells and their people noises, bells clanging inside the shrine, music playing somewhere in the distance; and all the foodsmells and even animal smells... He smelled foxsmell and blinked and smiled a little. A girlfox had been by here, maybe looking for food for her kits...

Wait. There was a _lot _of foxsmell.

He glanced around until he found the red torii that marked the entrance to the shrine proper, and blinked at the twin fox statues flanking the entrance for a moment before letting out a brief laugh.

"It's Inari-sama's shrine," he said, surprised and rather delighted. He wondered if Sensei had known.

"Huh, what do you know," Obito managed through a mouthful of something decidedly random he'd managed to purchase in the three seconds or so Kakashi had been busy noticing things, "Sensei is pretty sneaky. Maybe he should be a kitsune too." Unlike Kakashi, Obito couldn't smell all the subtle people-and-animal smells, but oh could he tell exactly what every vendor within a half mile radius was selling. Mmmmm, was that the lightly sweet, mouth-watering fragrance of sweet toasted waffle-like pastry stuffed with sugary red bean paste Obito smelled from a few dozen yards that way?

"T-taiyaki," he whimpered with the forlorn, noble longing expression of one who ached to be reunited with a long lost love.

Kakashi took a glance at Obito's expression, turned to follow his line of sight toward the taiyaki booth, and smiled a decidedly kitsune smile under the scarf. He was in a much better mood all of a sudden.

"Can I have a chocolate one?"

"As long as I can have all the other ones!" Obito nodded without really hearing himself answer because he was already on his way to the taiyaki booth, not quite noticing that Kakashi's hand slipped out of his as he bumped into some hapless teenager trying to get between him and his culinary soul mates.

Kakashi slipped off, all smiles, toward the red torii and the shrine grounds. He waved at the red-bibbed stone foxes as he passed, momentarily ducking behind the cover of the torii and statues and the nearby trees. A bundled-up silver-haired boy went in, and a silver-furred fox was what came out, scampering through the undergrowth rather gleefully. For a fox, the shrines of Inari were home-away-from-home -- he couldn't resist the chance to help welcome all Inari-sama's guests a little.

Obito noticed Kakashi was missing halfway through his eleventh taiyaki and immediately began to worry. This, however, did not stop him from finishing his twelfth and eating the four he had bought Kakashi as well (because taiyaki wasn't good cold was Obito's reasoning) before turning to look for his friend. How hard could it be to find a silver-haired boy in a crowd of dark haired people anyway?

Very difficult, Obito soon found out, when the person you were looking for _wasn't even in human form any longer_. He spotted a very familiar silver fox happily snacking on shrine offerings and squirmed through crowds of people to make his way over, arms crossed over his chest.

'_God damnit, Kakashi_,' Obito mentally groaned to himself in the general direction of the fox, _'I can't talk to you in public! I'll get funny looks. Why did you have to turn back into a fox?_'

_It's Inari-sama's shrine,_ Kakashi told him matter-of-factly as if that should explain everything, not pausing in the consumption of his third inari-zushi. Several of the people standing around were taking pictures of him, which was really weird, but he supposed they probably hadn't ever seen a kitsune before. Obito looked mad about something... was he mad? _And he won't damn anything, he always invites all his cousins over to eat, _the kitsune added, wondering if Obito thought he was stealing. How awful. Kakashi didn't _steal. _Unless there were orders or a mission or someone was paying him to but that was a long time ago, _now _he didn't steal _anything, _thank you very much.

"I didn't mean _that_ God--" Obito stopped himself as he abruptly realized he hadn't spoken to Kakashi out loud the first time, clamping his hand over his mouth even as several people cast him cautious looks. He stumbled back a half step, blinking rapidly at Kakashi.

'_Hey, you didn't tell me you could read my thoughts!_'

Foxes couldn't actually pout, but the impression came through clearly in Kakashi's answering thought nevertheless.

_Well, you were __**shouting **__them right at me, _he complained, feeling quite put-upon as he finished his sushi. Of course the fact was he _could _just go in there and browse in Obito's head whenever he wanted, it was easy and it felt so nice being so close and touching and but nothoughtsharingbad. That was. Bad. And led to bad things. So he didn't do it. He shouldn't even be thought_talking. _But, well, as a fox he couldn't really make human words...

Anyway. Obito didn't need to know any more about that, so Kakashi didn't say anything, just jumped off the altar and hopped from head to head of the people standing around for a while, doing what he'd actually meant to do coming up here. The couple who'd laid out the inari-zushi got his blessing of good luck to go with their wish, because Kakashi _really liked _inari-zushi. Once he heard someone shouting for the priests, he hopped away toward the edge of the woods nearby and vanished.

Grumbling, Obito stalked off after him, not wanting to lose the slightly unhinged fox demon in a strange city. It would be tough to explain to Sensei once he got home. Kakashi _had_ always been Shimenawa's favorite. 'Hey, sorry, Sensei, but I lost the completely batty reincarnation of your favorite student two cities over. Sorry. Maybe he'll get home on his own. Unless he forgets where home is. Then we're out of luck.' Yeah, that was one conversation he never wanted to have with Shimenawa-sensei.

"Kakashi!" he called once he felt he was far away enough from the shrine that people wouldn't get all suspicious. And if all else failed, he could pretend he'd lost his little brother. Maybe Kakashi still remembered how to henge.

And even as all this was going on, part of Obito was _really worried_ that Kakashi had maybe found out about the ramen dream he'd had.

Once Obito had moved around behind the shrine into a generally people-less area, it wasn't long before Kakashi reappeared again. There was a rustling in the underbrush at the edge of the forest line, and a second after Obito had turned to look, a sudden sense of weight atop his head made him pause.

Kakashi blinked at him upside-down as he leaned over to look the boy in the eye, tail swishing against the back of Obito's neck. He was quite happy to have his tail free again.

_You're mad. Are you mad? _he observed uncertainly, feeling a little guilty, but, well, not too much. He'd been busy doing Inari-sama's work, after all.

"I'm not mad," Obito grumbled aloud because it still freaked him out that Kakashi could read his thoughts, "I was _worried_. It's different. No more running off, even if I happen to be cheating on you with taiyaki, okay? I want you both to know that I love both of you very much and there is plenty of me to go around, so..." Obito was smiling again, plucking the little fox off his head to snuggle in his arms.

"Or else I'm going to shove you in my jacket and zip you up and you probably won't like that. Now can we get back to eating stuff yet? And we should probably buy Sensei a present."

Kakashi gave a happy little sigh as Obito cuddled him, and debated just staying like this for a while, but well, he couldn't really help pick out a present for Sensei if he was a fox, and he couldn't eat stuff. Well, he could but all the vendors would get mad at him (even though this was Inari-sama's shrine, which was very silly of them, he thought). He nuzzled against Obito's chest for a little while before reluctantly hopping down out of the boy's arms to assume human form again.

"...Sensei would like taiyaki." His scarf was a little crooked, he noticed. He adjusted it self-consciously. "Or sugar stars." ... Actually, Kakashi wanted sugar stars. Because clearly he had not had enough sugar yet today.

"Let's find sugar stars," he decided cheerfully before taking Obito's hand in his mittened one and dragging him back toward the festival.

Clearly the world was ending. Obito lagged slightly behind not because he wasn't excited for sugar stars, but because his mind was still trying to process _Kakashi_ and _wanting to go find sugar stars_. He swore he had decided a very long time ago that Kakashi dragging _him_ to go find sweets rather than the other way around was an unmistakable sign that up would soon become down.

"O-okay," he managed once the gears in his head stopped grinding, "And we can't bring Sensei taiyaki. Taiyaki is only good fresh." But hey, Obito was always good for eating more taiyaki on Shimenawa's behalf.

They wandered around looking for their desired candy for perhaps fifteen minutes. With Kakashi in the lead, their path traced rather erratically back and forth and around between stalls and tended to stop at random intervals, depending on what happened to catch his attention -- there was just _so much stuff_! Even the cold had stopped bothering him now that he wasn't thinking about it, and look over there someone was selling yakisoba, and soup, and those toy dinosaurs were way too pink to be dinosaur-y and wait, he was looking for sugar stars, wasn't he... but what was that?

They'd come to a stop in front of a dart-throwing booth, of a kind often seen at festivals and carnivals, with a big colorful target in the center and rows of stuffed animals lining the back walls. There was a short line of people trying their luck; Kakashi watched a paunchy middle-aged man miss four times in a row before his gaze wandered over to the prizes. Green teddy bears; pink tigers, big blue monkeys...

He blinked.

"Obito? Does Sensei like monkeys?"

"You know, he once mumbled something about missing 'Sarutobi-sensei's' pet monkey that I didn't understand until just now," Obito recalled out of the blue, "I'm pretty sure he likes monkeys, come to think of it. Why--_oh!_ You wanna try to bring him back a stuffed monkey?" Obito's rule of thumb when shopping for Shimenawa was to first consider if it was something he would want for himself, because ever since he was little, all of his favorite things happened to be Shimenawa's favorite things. Shimenawa-sensei had been the first person in the world to truly appreciate Obito's bird's nest collection. So, Obito thought to himself, would he like a giant stuffed monkey? The answer was... _yes_. A big, blue monkey was _exactly_ what Shimenawa-sensei needed for cheering up.

"Let's do it!" Obito grinned in that very familiar way that told Kakashi to play it by the book. The _ninja_ book. Which meant to cheat, repeat until caught, lie until caught again, then kill all associated parties.

The pair of them stood in line for twenty minutes, Obito cheerfully paid the game's proprietor, and Kakashi proceeded to completely finish up in five without even taking his mittens off. His instincts had not dulled with time; every single one of his darts hit dead center, and the operator and the other people waiting to play were applauding him incredulously by the time he was finished. He grinned down at the garish blue monkey as the proprietor handed it over, tugging idly at its long tail. He thought Sensei would be pleased.

"Lucky, you don't have to put your tail away," he told it, pouting a little. Not that he was really expecting it to talk _back _or anything. They usually didn't. But, well, you never _really _knew.

"You know," Obito observed as he poked the stuffed monkey, "This is going to be hard to lug around. Maybe we should go home early instead of staying the night." As soon as the words left his lips he began to take mental inventory of everything he hadn't eaten yet and gauged that he could probably get through it all within the next twenty minutes.

"Is there anything you still want to do?"

Kakashi pulled on the monkey's tail some more, and blinked, and thought about it for a moment. Was there something he'd meant to...

Oh. "Sugar stars," he nodded decisively.

"Sugar stars!" Obito agreed.

One pillaging of a sugar star vendor and four more helpings of taiyaki later, the full, happy, and somewhat tired boys made their way back to the train station, each holding onto part of the stuffed monkey which swung between them. Obito was still nibbling (a bit forlornly) on his last taiyaki. They sat in the train station a little while before catching the next train home, sitting with the monkey between them and their hands folded together in the stuffed toy's lap.

The sun was beginning to set when they found themselves back at Shimenawa's practice.

"Okay, Kakashi!" Obito grinned, "You hide behind the corner with his present and I'll knock, okay?"

Kakashi nodded, rushing off to take up a strategic position around the corner next to the yard. He clutched the monkey to his chest (and after a moment it occurred to him he could uncurl his tail, which he then did with a sigh of relief), and waited, and peeked around the corner a little, and waited some more. And waited. And... this was completely taking too long.

"...Obito?" he called the other boy's name confusedly, sticking his head out all the way to see if there was some kind of problem.

"Sensei... Sensei's not here," Obito answered, sounding just as confused as Kakashi. Looking around, he spotted a sign in the window.

"There's a note," he began slowly as he tried to decipher Shimenawa's doctor scrawl, "It says he's away tending a family emergency--" Obito broke off, frowning to himself, "But Shimenawa-sensei doesn't _have_ any family. Unless--" Something clicked in his head as his eyes widened and he turned to look at Kakashi.

"_We're_ the family!" he exclaimed, "Which means... which means we're the emergency too which means... oh god, Kakashi, c'mon we gotta go back to the apartment!" Without waiting for a proper response, Obito grabbed whichever of Kakashi's hands wasn't holding Shimenawa's present and began dragging him back towards their apartment.

Kakashi didn't quite understand what was going on, but he kept up with Obito nevertheless as they dashed back toward home. Something was niggling at him again, though -- whispering that they'd been better off at the festival, that they didn't _ever _need to go back because there were badbadthings--

Kakashi shook the thought off and kept running. It was just... it was just home, right? There was... nothing bad about home. Except that Sensei was in trouble there or something like that and that was why they were hurrying over to help him--

They climbed the stairs to their place in record time, and Kakashi hung back a little, still confused and hesitant, as Obito made for the door. There was... There _was. _Somethingbad. In. In, but what?

...Yesterday somethingbad happened.

He shivered a little, with not-really-remembering. He didn't want to remember. He was really, really sure he didn't want to remember.


	11. Chapter 11

Second Sight

_Chapter Eleven_

The apartment door gave when Obito touched it, swinging open as though the last person to go through it had things in mind other than the security of the apartment. But that could have been yesterday. That could have been when they left, when--_Sensei carefully shut the door behind Obito so he wouldn't have to see the blood anymore_. Obito swallowed and stepped in, praying to himself that his hunch was horribly mistaken, that he was just being stupid and jumped to conclusions and... back when he was still a ninja, the one thing he had always been able to trust was his instincts.

"S-sensei...?" he asked uncertainly as he stepped inside.

Everything was clean.

The walls, the table, the TV, the bookshelf--the carpet had been stripped out and replaced with tatami mats. Even the ceiling was... well, it was certainly cleaner than when they had moved in. The living room was clean, and the apartment was empty and silent save for-- Obito listened carefully and heard slow, almost mechanical sound of scrubbing, a faint '_swish swish_' noise that sounded in time with the impossibly loud ticking of the clock. It was coming from the direction of the bedroom.

Shimenawa was still scrubbing the same spot in the carpet he had been working on for the past three hours. It was the place where Kakashi had been sitting, the only spot of blood left in the apartment. He had managed to make the edges of the stain go a pale pink, but the heart of it remained. The blood seemed to have soaked into the very carpet fibers. At this point, Shimenawa was probably only adding to the problem. His hands were raw and red from the day's cleaning and his knuckles were beginning to bleed, but he didn't notice because he couldn't really feel them anymore.

The door opened behind him but he did not entirely hear it, only aware of the sound of his brush against the carpet ringing in his ears.

"S-sensei...!"

Shimenawa blinked abruptly and stilled, turning to see who was calling him and why they sounded so terrified. He would fix it, he was already thinking. No matter who or what it was, he would fix it, make it so they didn't sound so scared anymore. It was okay. He was here. He could make everything better.

It was Obito.

"O-obito," he stammered, looking confused and just a little disoriented, "You're not supposed to be back yet, I... I told you to stay the night."

"S-sensei," Obito repeated again, voice quiet and still carrying a note of horror, "Why did you... do this all by yourself? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because..." Shimenawa stopped, trying to chase down his train of thought. Why was it so hard to focus? "Because you would worry, and you have enough to worry about."

Obito didn't know who to turn to for help. Sensei looked as though he were coming apart and Kakashi... there wasn't much of Kakashi left to come apart.

The kitsune, meanwhile, was stopped in the doorway of the apartment, staring at the floor. Why were there tatami mats? There had never been tatami in here before. Why were...

He kept standing there staring at them, because he was too afraid to look up. _Somethingreallyreallybad _was-- he-- he didn't even know but something made his chest seize up and sent shivers through his body and he felt like he could _almost _remember but he was really, really, _really _sure that he didn't want to.

And. But. Sensei. Sensei was inside. And Obito. And Sensei. Who was having a family emergency.

He couldn't just stand here. So Kakashi took a very deep breath and clutched the stuffed monkey tight to his chest, and took one experimental step inside the doorway.

"W..why don't we go home now, Sensei?" came Obito's voice from just within the bedroom, faint and uncertain and terribly, terribly lost, "I can make us dinner and... and I won't even burn down the kitchen this time, promise."

"You go on ahead, Obito," Shimenawa shook his head, looking back down at the blood stain in the floor, "I just have to finish up here. I'll be okay. Your sensei is tough, remember? After I finish here things will be okay again." His head hurt when he moved it. When had it started hurting? Had he eaten today? He couldn't exactly remember. He remembered eating, but he wasn't sure if it had been today or if perhaps he had considered breaking to eat so many times that he was mistaking one for a memory. When had he become such a mess?

"Sensei!" Obito gasped when he followed Shimenawa's gaze down and finally saw his hands, scraped raw and bleeding and-- Obito swallowed, pressing his hand over his heart to try to stop it from hurting. Who was there to heal the doctor? He dropped to his knees at Shimenawa's side and pulled the brush away before stubbornly drawing him into a tight embrace.

"It's _okay_, Sensei! We'll tear out the carpet in here too or soak it in so many chemicals that it dissolves but right now Kakashi and I want to have dinner with you, okay? So let's go home," he begged quietly into Shimenawa's ear, "...please?"

Shimenawa made a strange hiccuping sound before his shoulders began to tremble, hands grasping Obito's arms tightly. Obito's eyes widened as he all but froze, unable to explain why the sound of his sensei crying terrified him more than any battle.

"I..." Shimenawa managed in a low whisper, "I can't... can't do it again. I can't lose you again, can't watch Kakashi... I'm not strong enough to lose you two again. I'll do anything... _anything_..." Obito was surprised how easy it was to be strong for someone. It was exhausting beyond expression and made his heart ache in ways he had never thought possible and he wanted nothing more than to hide under his blankets from now until forever, but somehow, the act of being strong for someone came effortlessly. Because there wasn't any other choice. Obito understood Shimenawa a little better just then.

"I know, Sensei," he murmured in response, "I know. It's my turn now, okay? I'll carry you home."

Shimenawa knelt there a few minutes longer sniffling on Obito until he could control himself again, feeling, well, rather embarrassed about the whole affair. And yet it was nice to be uncensored for a little while -- to not have to carefully hide the fact that, yes, when one of his beloved students bled himself all over his apartment walls and the other halfway had a breakdown over it, it _did _in fact _bother _him.

It was times like these that he really missed his own sensei. In the months just after he and Kakashi had first met -- when Kakashi had been very young, and prone to doing things that baffled, disturbed, and/or scared the shit out of Shimenawa on a regular basis (pretty much the way he did now, save maybe with _slightly_ less bleeding) -- it had been Jiraiya who he'd turned to when he needed to vent, or ask for advice, or, once or twice, indulge his crybaby-ness by bawling his eyes out on his sensei's shoulder. Jiraiya was used to it and had always weathered every rant, every worry, and every bout of tears with his usual perverted good humor, and the occasional donation of a bit of booze here and there. The last time he'd seen the old perv had been just before he sealed away the Kyuubi; it had taken three or four thousand years after that before the assembled Hokages were able to escape from the Shinigami's stomach, and by now Jiraiya's soul could be anywhere. Shimenawa felt his absence keenly now, and fervently wished that the man was around, if for no other reason than that Obito didn't deserve to have to try and deal with this.

They were such good kids. Obito was going to go on to live a full and wonderful life this time around; Shimenawa knew it. Kakashi...

God, Kakashi. That... was a thought to tackle another time. For now the important thing was Kakashi was safe, and he was relatively happy, and he was well-looked-after (and would be _more _well-looked-after in the future, away from pointy objects) by people who loved him. Right at the moment, Shimenawa decided, that was all he needed to care about.

The young doctor swallowed hard, and took a deep breath or three, and reached up to wipe his eyes dry. Somehow he'd managed to make himself feel a little better with those thoughts; perhaps it was his natural optimism reasserting itself as he looked up at his former student, reached out to ruffle Obito's hair, and gave him a still-slightly-watery but genuine smile.

"...Yeah. Sorry if I scared you." He rose to his feet, trying to ignore the creaking of his poor abused knees. He'd somehow done a number on himself today without even noticing it. "Let's go home."

"I'm not scared of anything," Obito insisted as he took Shimenawa's hand, because he thought it was the kind of thing Shimenawa would have (and had) done were their roles reversed. Then, together, they made their way back into the now near pitch black living room as the sun had finally set. Obito squinted into the darkness, thinking to himself that his night vision _really_ wasn't what it used to be.

"Kakashi?" he asked the unlit room, sensing the other lurking somewhere nearby.

Kakashi hadn't actually been _trying _to lurk; but clearly some habits were hard to break. After managing to make it into the living room he'd sort of gotten sidetracked by the unexpected _cleanness _of it all; he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting _(there, and there, and there, and on the wall and on the screen and on the window--) _but he hadn't gotten it, and somehow it had made him feel considerably calmer. Now, as he walked over close enough to where the other two could see him, he looked between Sensei and Obito with rather wide, concerned eyes, noting their joined hands and the bleeding knuckles and the rather tearstained state of Shimenawa's face and frowning. The monkey was hidden carefully behind Kakashi's back; he'd remembered at the last second that it was supposed to be a surprise.

"...Sensei?" he enquired in a hesitantly worried voice as he came closer.

"Are you hiding something?" Shimenawa quickly asked, because he didn't want to alarm Kakashi by saying, well, anything that would have answered the question in Kakashi's voice. Nearly causing Obito a heart attack was excitement enough for the day and, well, all of their moods seemed to hinge on Kakashi's continuing sanity, however questionable it was even during the best of times.

"...you seem to have developed a third arm."

Obito squinted in the darkness and then coughed as his laugh got caught in his throat when he made out the outline of a floppy little monkey arm seemingly sprouting from Kakashi's side.

"Huh?" Kakashi had to blink down at himself for a second -- wait, Sensei was just teasing him. He tugged on the stuffed monkey's tail for a second, feeling a little sheepish, before pulling it out from behind his back and extending it shyly toward Shimenawa. Even in the dark, it was a _very _garish shade of blue.

"Um... we got you a surprise," he murmured, glancing away on reflex.

For a moment, Shimenawa could only blink at the present. The awe-inspiring color of its fur. The either extremely happy or extremely threatening grin. The long, floppy arms. The fluffy tail. It was right then and there that he decided that the monkey needed a little loincloth and that his boys were the most perfect in the world. He stepped forward, dragging Obito over, and pulled both of them in for the kind of group hug that embarrassed any child over the age of six. Or four, if you went by third world war era Konoha.

"Thank you," he whispered to both of them before pulling them toward the door, "I'll name him Enma and he'll help me cheer up my patients when they're sad, because I can tell he's very good at that already."

Kakashi couldn't help but smile a little at the tone of approval, and, most of all, at the pleasure on Sensei's face.

He took Obito's hand in one of his mittened ones as they walked out; and Shimenawa carried his monkey all the way home.

- - -

Life was never exactly uneventful for the little trio; but once they'd taken enough time to put the latest incident behind them, they quickly settled back into a routine. Obito returned to work (and to a bevy of gruffly concerned construction workers asking after the state of his left buttcheek -- Shimenawa had been rather deviously creative in making his excuses); the doctor took a week or so off and then continued with his practice; and they could hardly stop Kakashi from roaming wherever he pleased, but they could at least put their kitchen knives under lock and key, which they did. (Shimenawa kept getting up in the morning, going for a butter knife for his breakfast, and completely forgetting he'd left the key to the knife cabinet atop his bedside table, but, well, it was for a good cause.) Time slipped away from them quickly, and before they knew it, one Sunday morning they awoke to snow on the ground.

The snow came just in time to rescue Obito's already slightly questionable sanity as for the sixth day in a row, he couldn't find himself a decently sharp-and-pointy object (this had never been a problem when they were ninja) to open up a particularly stubborn package of instant noodles and found himself swallowing little bits of plastic on accident as he tried to gnaw it open so he could have breakfast. He really, sorely wanted to ask Shimenawa to teach him how to make chakra blades but he knew it was pretty much a lost cause as far as learning it in time for him to eat breakfast for the next few months. His chakra control had never been particularly precise (he had always been _amazing_, naturally, but precision was a little different from being awesome) and, well, he was a teenage boy and halfway through last week he had done something that teenage boys tend to be unable to resist when presented with the temptation. He had gone and tried to melt things with his katon jutsu. And, well, he had discovered that his current body had about as much chakra at its disposal as a potted plant. Which was to say he could probably light a cigarette if he really tried. He completely blamed his dad for it. He'd always suspected his dad was from the end of the gene pool that was so shallow, he'd gotten himself beached.

But none of that was here and now. Because right _now_, Obito's canines halfway through the first layer of extremely bright and happy plastic wrapping, there was lots of white stuff out their balcony window and suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore. There were much more pressing matters at hand. Dropping the packet of instant noodles, Obito bolted into the bedroom and flopped onto a lump under the sheets.

"Kakashi!" he sang, flailing about on top of his most likely no longer sleeping friend, "Kakashi! Wake up! It's snowing outside and we have to play in it because you _totally_ owe me." It occurred to Obito then that he probably sounded a little bit like Rin. That was, well, he sounded like a girl in general, reminding Kakashi that he owed him something from a time Kakashi brushed him off over three millennia ago. He considered feeling a little bit ill at himself, but no, now was not the time. Because it was _snowing_, and oh how his hands itched to accidentally drop snow down the back of Kakashi's clothes. And maybe the front too.

"Nnnn... mmmphnglingnphn..." came a muffled, sleepy mumble from under the sheets as Kakashi set about extricating himself. "The wha...?" He flopped sleepily against Obito's side, rubbing at his eyes a little; it took a few moments until he was awake enough to register that the landscape outside the bedroom window was extra-bright this morning.

"Oh--" His eyes widened. "Snow...?"

"Yep!" Obito grinned as he stripped the sheets from the futon and gave his sleepy little fox-boy a happy snuggle before nudging him toward the bathroom.

"C'mon! Go wash up and get dressed so we can go play! We should go grab Sensei too. Maybe he can come out for a little while if he doesn't have any patients," Obito pondered aloud to himself, "We can have a snowball fight! Hmmmph, I'm probably way out of shape to be competing with you guys. I'll just have to work on it." The failed katon jutsu was still making him a little sad, because Kakashi's aim was as good as ever and Shimenawa's healing jutsu actually seemed better than ever and meanwhile Obito had lighters that produced a better flame than he could. Woe. And he was eighteen. Eighteen was way too late to start being a ninja. Most ninja were dead by eighteen. Or dead long before eighteen.

Obito was still pouting to himself as he scooted himself over to the closet to find his very special blue-and-orange winter jacket, with a slightly lopsided and asymmetrical Uchiha crest hand-stitched to the back. He'd been working on it the past few weeks and now he finally got to wear it! With a happy, impish little smile, Obito pulled it on and hugged himself, feeling very cool and Uchiha.

Kakashi got himself through the usual bathroom routine on reflex (which most of the time actually worked better than conscious thought, these days), and was dressed and ready to go in record time. The more awake he got, the more he joined Obito in his enthusiasm that, well, _snow! _The last time he'd played in the snow he'd been... what, a kit? It must have been more than two thousand years ago, well before he'd learned how to become human-shaped, or maybe there was that time no wait that was a different life, or was it the other one, or the _other _other one or... anyway, it had been a long time. His mittens were on the bedside table, so he grabbed them first before going to the closet for his coat and his scarf, at which time he registered that this definitely needed to be done in a different order and pulled them off to start over. He blinked at the sight of Obito hugging himself for a moment before noticing the new Uchiha emblem on the other boy's jacket, which garnered a quiet laugh.

"Did you do that?" he wondered, joining in the hug for a moment because there could really never be enough touching of Obito.

"Uh-huh!" Obito nodded proudly, craning his neck as he tried to peer at his back. He gave up after a while and settled for hugging his marshmallow of a fox-boy.

"You ready? I think we should jump out the balcony and just... land in the snow," he glanced out the window thoughtfully at that, weighing his pros and cons, trying to decide if the exhilaration of jumping off their second story balcony was worth the off chance of breaking something. He _most likely_ still remembered how to land right. He was still a ninja at heart, after all.

For just a bare second, a very familiar unimpressed look passed across Kakashi's face -- "They make stairs for a reason, you know." -- and then he poked Obito pointedly in the nose and the moment had passed, but had existed, all the same.

"And Sensei would be mad," he pouted a little as they pulled apart, turning away toward the door. Mad Sensei was just... never good. He wasn't scary like mad Rin, but he was always so _disappointed _at you like that time he spent three days perfecting his backhanded kunai throw and sort of forgot to eat and might have wait he was getting off track. Making Sensei sad was not good.

For a moment Obito could only gape at Kakashi, stunned and suddenly aching, going absolutely still as he tried to hold on to a moment that had already passed. There. Right then. A glimpse of the boy Obito had fallen hard for all those... all those lifetimes ago. Sometimes, most of the time, Obito was quite certain he was fine with things the way they were, that he was happy as long as Kakashi was happy and that they were okay because they cared about each other. And then, every once in a while, Kakashi would be _himself_ again, for a second, half a second, and Obito would remember for the next few minutes what being _in _love really felt like. He would be acutely reminded of how willing he would be to give anything and everything to be able to get Kakashi back, and then become even more aware of how desperately he wanted to be with someone he really loved again. And then he remembered that he had Kakashi still and things weren't the same because Kakashi wasn't the same, and that the boy he had loved had been destroyed a very long time ago because of him.

"He..." Obito swallowed, trying to remember what they had been doing just now, "He'd only be mad if I actually broke something. I'll jump off the balcony if I want to, but you can use the stairs if you don't think you're ninja enough to take it!" Bluffing felt good. Felt great, actually. It was familiar and empowering and Obito got away with it more these days. He couldn't exactly decide how getting away with it made him feel, but... It didn't really matter, he supposed. How he felt. Kakashi would continue being Kakashi and Obito would continue to pay him back for all he had done. That was life.

"Race you downstairs!" he called before his thoughts could get away from him again, and he ran off to launch himself down from the balcony.

Kakashi laughed behind his hand for a second, and then he was snuffling behind a paw, and then he was not present at all. A second later found a silver-white fox sitting on its haunches out on the ground near the balcony, tail swishing across snow that was just about exactly the same shade as its fur. It cocked its head slightly in Obito's direction before Kakashi the boy returned.

"Oh, is _that_ how you want to play it?" Obito crossed his arms over his chest, balanced rather precariously on the balcony's rail as he half-heartedly glared down at the cheap little fox of a boy below. But all was fair in love and ninja warfare.

"Fine, I'm just going to go inside and not play with you then," he sniffed, beginning to turn around before he crouched and launched himself down at Kakashi, intending to tackle the other boy into the snow.

Eyes wide, Kakashi faltered for a brief second, not really sure whether it would be better to get out of the way or let the other boy fall on him; but ninja reflex took over where indecision left off and he dodged, diving to roll over on his side in the snow as Obito came down. "You okay?" he asked, frowning (and simultaneously packing a snowball between two mittened hands, but that was neither here nor there).

It was practically ninja code to play cheap where your abilities fell short, and Obito _really_ wasn't half the shinobi he had once been (which was tragic because he really didn't have that much skill to spare) so playing cheap as he could possibly manage was how he had to do it. When Kakashi asked if he was okay, he poked his tongue around in the snow a little to make sure he had enough air and then proceeded to play dead.

"...Obito?"

Kakashi's voice sounded very uncertain all of a sudden. His brow furrowed a bit more as he looked between his snowball and the unresponsive boy lying on the ground; compromising, he carried it with one hand as he walked over to crouch down next to Obito, extending a mittened hand toward his shoulder.

Patience and being stealthy had never been Obito's strengths, but he held on fast this time. He waited until he felt Kakashi's hand on his shoulder, waited until he knew his friend's position exactly--...and then he waited a little longer, just for the sake of being worried about because he rather liked listening to Kakashi worry about him. Then, grinning despite the fact that he was beginning to lose feeling in his facial muscles from laying face-down in the snow, he grabbed the wrist that was on his shoulder and did his best to yank Kakashi down with him so he could pin him against the ground.

"Ack--" Kakashi felt a little silly for being worried as he was suddenly dragged down into the snow. He wouldn't go without a fight; he managed to at least get his snowball mashed against Obito's Uchiha jacket and part of his face before the other boy had wrestled them around so Kakashi was pinned beneath him. Kakashi pouted up at him and then thought to say 'no fair', and then a second later thought what an odd thing that was to say, and decided not to say it. He flicked some more snow up at Obito instead. The stuff was already starting to soak through his mittens.

"Hey!" Obito complained as some of the snow went down his shirt as he settled himself down on Kakashi's hips, properly straddling the other boy, "That's really cold!" And, frankly, various parts of his body were agreeing with him. He caught both of Kakashi's arms by the wrist to completely trap the other boy beneath him.

"So, have I won?" he asked, wiggling slightly as he brought his face close to Kakashi's.

It was terribly cold and wet being held down against the snow, but Obito was _right_ next to him and very warm... His little movements sent a tingle up Kakashi's spine. The kitsune shifted as if trying to get away, just so they could move against each other some more -- so he could feel the shift of Obito's hips and groin against his stomach, Obito's fingers holding his wrists firmly in place -- and then there was Obito's breath brushing his face, his eyes so _close _-- it felt very, very nice.

"I guess," he sniffed up at the other boy before leaning a little upward as best he could, raising his lips to meet Obito's.

"You guess?" Obito smiled, mostly to himself, looking a little smug and a little bit elated at Kakashi's pretense of getting away.

"Ah, well..." he sighed, closing his eyes, "Guess I'll just have to try harder." He leaned down just a little more and pressed a light, chaste, and altogether teasing kiss against Kakashi's lips, holding it not quite long enough before pulling away. He pressed another soft kiss against the corner of Kakashi's mouth, then the line of his jaw, then he nudged away Kakashi's scarf to brush another kiss against Kakashi's neck. Had it ever felt cold outside? Obito couldn't really remember.

"Nn..." Kakashi made a contented little noise, smiling beatifically up at the other boy and thinking, for the moment, of absolutely nothing save how good he felt and how happy he was to be with Obito. He twined his neck upward to return the favor again, drawing out his kiss a little longer this time, trying to convey how grateful he was. Being treated like this made him want his arms back a bit, so he could do something more; but it felt wonderful the way Obito was holding him down -- it felt safe, secure somehow.

Obito held on a moment longer to chase Kakashi's kiss with another of his own before, satisfied that Kakashi most likely would not be running away, slowly releasing him so Obito's hands were free to battle the snow for Kakashi's sides. He managed to slide his hands around Kakashi's thin waist and hold him closer, wanting nothing more than to... than to...

...not do this in public in the middle of the day.

Cheeks going a faint but vivid shade of red, Obito pushed himself off Kakashi and dusted the mostly melted snow off his now fairly damp clothes before offering his hand to the kitsune, looking embarrassed and apologetic and just a little bit frustrated.

"We, uh," he coughed nervously, "shouldn't upset the neighbors."

Kakashi was a little confused and more than a little disappointed, but acquiesced without a fuss -- and, really, when he stopped and thought about it -- looking around, they _were_ in view of an _awful _lot of windows, he realized, and people tended to not want you making kissyface under their windows. Ah, well, there was still _snow -- _he couldn't be too sad. He brushed some of said snow off his rather wet backside, trying to shake out his tail; it was encrusted with snow that didn't want to come off, and he whipped it back and forth behind him as he scooted in to give Obito one last peck on the cheek.

The snow just wasn't coming out; abruptly he turned and frowned down at his bushy, rather wet tail accusingly.

"Stupid tail..."

Well, _fine _then. He wasn't going to spend all morning picking snow and ice out of his tail when he could be _playing. _With one last half-hearted flounce of the soaked appendage, he took fox form again and scampered around Obito's feet, digging at the snow enthusiastically. The cold didn't bother him nearly as much with a fur coat.

The sight made Obito smile and he let himself simply watch Kakashi roll around in the snow, playing as though he were a kit again. It was too cute for words, which was not to say that it wasn't just a little unsettling for Obito. 'Cute' was one of those words that caused a little bit of his world to come crashing down when it was used to describe Kakashi. Obito was still humoring the thought of whether or not Kakashi being so cute that he wanted to just snuggle and cuddle and nuzzle him to _death_ actually terrified him when he came to the abrupt realization that he wasn't watching Kakashi play anymore. In fact, he couldn't even _see_ Kakashi and there was a little tunnel in the snow where Kakashi had been.

"Uh... Kakashi?" he asked uncertainly. '_Great_,' he was thinking to himself, '_I just lost my best friend in a drift of snow._'

"Kakashi?"

There was no answer, either from the hole Kakashi had left behind or anywhere else in Obito's surroundings. Kakashi seemed to have disappeared -- and considering how closely his fur matched the color of the snow, that wasn't really a difficult proposition.

After a few minutes, Obito actually remembered to be worried. It was a big world and Kakashi's mental stability was still questionable at best. He was really hoping that Kakashi was trying to get back at him for earlier, but still...

"Kakashi?" he tried again, digging around in the snow a little bit himself, trying to find Kakashi without doing something stupid like stepping on him, "Kakashi, where'd you go? I give, okay? We can go find Sensei and have hot chocolate and make out on his couch or something if you come out. Kakashi?" He continued searching around until his hands went completely numb and then some because, hey, once his hands were numb they stopped hurting. It was somewhere between half an hour and forty-five minutes that he gave up, feeling more than a little uneasy. His mind went to the one person he seemed to go to for everything, who he was probably more than a little bit unhealthily dependent on. Shimenawa-sensei would be able to find Kakashi. He knew that Shimenawa's ability to sense chakra was still up there whereas Obito's had gone to the pits.

"Don't go anywhere or I'll be really mad, Kakashi!" he shouted at the clearing, hoping that if Kakashi could hear him, he would listen. Then, hurrying, Obito ran over the few blocks to Shimenawa's practice, hoping he could spare the time.

* * *

Authors' note: We would like to give a shout out to Cheysuli-Night for being right on about what Shimenawa-sensei was up to. Thanks for reading and we adore the thoughtfulness of your reviews.

(And of course we love all the rest of you reviewers too. :3 Thanks for keeping us going!)


	12. Chapter 12

Second Sight

_Chapter Twelve_

There was a little snowman in front of Shimenawa's door. He seemed to have taken the Sunday off; when he answered Obito's insistent pounding he proved to be dressed in warm sweats and slippers, and was carrying a book under his arm. He blinked quizzically at Obito as the young man came into sight, hoping this wasn't going to be bad news.

"Obito...?" he ventured, raising an eyebrow.

"Sensei!" Obito gasped, just about keeling over as he tried to catch his breath. It was at least a full minute before he was able to do more than stammer Shimenawa's name. But by the time he recovered enough to plead for Shimenawa's help, someone wearing just loose pajama pants and a cloth mask that covered his nose, mouth, and neck padded up behind the doctor to join them. The stranger was a little bit taller than Shimenawa, with black hair that seemed to get lighter at the roots, the strands trying to defy gravity despite being damp. Obito could only begin to imagine the things his hair would do once dry.

"Who's your guest, Sunshine?" the stranger asked as he absently ran his hand through his hair, trying to get it to dry faster. "Isn't he a little bit old for you? I mean, well, a little bit of a teasing smile found its way into his voice at that, "Too old to be visiting doctor-you. Don't worry, I know he's not your type."

Obito fell silent and gaped.

"O-- that-- wha--" Shimenawa stopped, took a deep breath, and glanced back to give the stranger a very exasperated glare. "Kumo!" Looking back toward Obito, it only took a single glance to tell what the young man was thinking; Shimenawa waved a hand at him, shaking his head frantically.

"No-- Obito-- it's nothing like--" He jerked a thumb back toward the man behind him. "This-- he's an old high school friend of mine and... What was the matter, anyway?" The young doctor stopped to blink, frowning a little. "Where's Kakashi?"

"I'm hurt, Sunshine," came Kumo's pout as he slung an arm over Shimenawa's shoulders, "I thought we were past hiding our relationship." He lifted a not entirely black eyebrow then, looking between Obito and Shimenawa.

"Is someone missing?"

Obito managed to hold back his complete and utter mortification long enough to remember why he had come to begin with, that Kakashi had been missing for the past hour give or take, and he nodded quickly.

"Sensei! Kakashi, uh, well," he cast Kumo a wary, uncertain look, "We were playing in the snow and he did that, uh... that thing he does. And he disappeared. And he's been missing for an hour or something like that and I know you can still do that... finding people thing. So I was hoping you'd come and, uh... find him."

Shimenawa raised an eyebrow, hoping the old friend standing beside him was too tired to cotton on to the strangeness of Obito's phrasing. _That thing he did... _that would help him hide in white snow... was he in fox form, then? This was going to be a pain, to be sure. At the same time, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief that it _probably _wasn't anything worse than a simple misplaced kitsune. Unless Kakashi had gotten himself caught in an animal trap or something...

"All right," he said, ducking out indignantly from under Kumo's shoulder and giving Obito a nod, "let me grab my coat and some real shoes and you and I can go look." He phrased it carefully. Hopefully Kumo wouldn't mind just hanging out here for a while... it had been a long time since the two of them had seen each other, but the other man had been doing nothing but traveling lately; the extra rest could be some good to him.

"Hey, you guys going to look for someone missing?" Kumo grinned faintly. He might have caught on to Shimenawa suggesting that he stay behind, but he rather liked being where the action was and he couldn't really fathom why Shimenawa wouldn't want him to go with. He was quite certain as one of Konoha's elite soldiers and having been in service for the past five, ten years, he was a little bit more qualified to find someone lost than a pediatrician and a delinquent.

"I'll come with. I do have several years of tracking experience if you haven't forgotten. What are we looking for? Friend? Boyfriend? Pet cat?"

Obito choked slightly on his own breath at that, casting Shimenawa a helpless look as he tried really hard not to admit to himself that Kakashi was practically all three.

"Um..." Shimenawa scratched his head, looking a little sheepish. Logically there really _wasn't _any reason a normal person would deny Kumo's help -- but explaining Kakashi, not to mention his own method of finding the boy, was going to be a headache. Kumo had always been an easygoing, open-minded sort of person, but secret ninja skills and kitsune and four-thousand-year-old reincarnations were sure to stretch even _his _credibility. "He's Obito's roommate... Oh, this is Matsudaira Obito--" The doctor gestured toward the snow-covered boy still standing outside his doorway. "You're not dressed, though," he added with a sudden flash of inspiration as he looked back. "We really shouldn't waste any time..."

"Who needs clothes when there's someone in need?" Kumo laughed as he looked around so he could at least slip his shoes, "This is nothing compared to that one time I was stationed up north and the boys thought it would be fun to toss all my clothes off the side of the mountain. Ever gone running naked through snow looking for your clothes? But I'm getting off track. Which way did you lose your boy-friend-cat?" As Obito had neglected to answer him, Kumo simply made sure to cover all his bases.

The boy in question had resorted to staring dumbly, before he managed to muster a pouting sort of glare at Shimenawa that accused him of having a strange lover-friend-_thing_ who was keeping them from finding Kakashi.

Shimenawa had given up halfway through the other man's speech, and was now rummaging through the front closet. "Oh, for god's sake, at _least_ take a coat," he told the other man exasperatedly, flinging a spare one at him before quickly tugging on his own and moving to step into his shoes. "Obito, can you lead the way?"

"But-- but-- _but!_" Obito managed to sputter as Kumo nonchalantly slipped on the coat that was tossed at him. He still was really uncertain about bringing a (really strange) random stranger with them to see Kakashi, old high school friend of Shimenawa-sensei's or not, but there seemed to be no helping it. Obito decided not to be _too_ concerned as long as Shimenawa wasn't, and he really couldn't stay away from Kakashi any longer. He was already really worried and so, swallowing, he nodded quickly before turning back in the direction of his apartment.

"Back here!" he waved at the few dozen square feet of space behind their apartment building when they arrived, feeling even more nervous and worried when there was still no sight of Kakashi.

"I don't know what happened. I was just-- we were just playing and... and he just disappeared," he finished lamely, barely remembering not to say that Kakashi had turned into a fox shortly before disappearing.

"Okay," Kumo nodded, scanning the area without really knowing what he was looking for, "Anyone care to describe what we're looking for to me?"

Shimenawa glanced uncomfortably between Obito and Kumo for a moment, and finally decided, well, he was just going to have to acquiesce. God, this was a mess. But... they really could use Kumo's help, and it wasn't going to help anybody at all if they gave him the wrong description.

"Um, well... don't look at me too weirdly when I say this, but..." The young doctor scratched his head sheepishly. "Either a white-haired boy bundled up with a scarf," he looked toward Obito to confirm whether Kakashi had been in his usual winter wear, but the other boy appeared to be too busy gaping at him to respond, "or, well, a white fox."

For the most part, Kumo seemed to take it decently well, at least for now. Scratching the back of his neck, he looked around the clearing.

"You pulling my leg, Sunshine? I didn't think you even liked foxes," he mused. Being the good sport he was, he was fully willing to play along, though something about all this just didn't quite sit right with him. Shimenawa had never been a practical jokes kind of guy (practical jokes were more Kumo's turf), and both the baby doctor and his boy seemed genuinely concerned that this Kakashi was missing. Either a fox or a boy, huh? Well, maybe things would make more sense once they found Obito's pet boy, Kumo firmly decided.

"Alright, then. Watch a master at work," he grinned, took two steps, and then did his tracking by the book.

"Let's see. There are animal prints here. Boy body shapes here. Huh, I was right on the mark, wasn't I?" he observed to himself aloud and Obito turned quite red in response, "There were definitely two boys here and a fox..." Kumo's eyes narrowed as he watched the boy-tracks stop abruptly and turn into fox-tracks. This was definitely weirder than he was used to.

"...your Kakashi isn't even lost. He ran off that way chasing a rabbit."

Shimenawa blinked. "...He did?" the man said incredulously, looking off in the direction where Kumo was turned, trying to feel for that familiar chakra. Did Kakashi chase rabbits...?

He felt something rather familiarly foxy in the distance -- past another snowdrift, in a rather forlorn grove of dead trees. He frowned thoughtfully for a moment before nodding to himself, walking past Kumo.

"Maybe we should take a look in that direction then," he said, glancing toward Obito nonchalantly.

"He better be _dead_," Obito grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he stalked toward the direction Kumo had pointed. He had almost given himself a _heart attack_ because Kakashi had no attention span and had gone off to chase _rabbits_? The thought alone made Obito want to break things.

"Ah, young love," Kumo admired as he followed, no less confused but also no less cheerful about it. He was tempted but did not give into the urge to comment on the beastiality undertones of this whole matter, because it was still a little too weird for him to joke about.

Shimenawa just gave both of them a sheepish sort of smile as they made their way across the snow toward the treeline. Kakashi's presence was definitely getting stronger -- actually--

"Was that a snowshoe hare?" he frowned as a white shape, close to invisible, disappeared behind a nearby snowdrift. A second later, it had all happened a little too fast to properly follow -- the rabbit hopped forward halfway into their line of sight, and a slightly oversized fox with fur matching the snow nearly perfectly had burst from _inside _the snowdrift to pounce on it. The squirming rabbit let out a terrified squeak; Kakashi didn't do more than nip at its ears before letting it get away -- he wasn't hungry and it was the chasing that was the fun part, really.

...hey, there were people. He blinked slightly, taking in the familiar scents as he shook some snow off himself, looking around. There was Obito and Sensei and...

...And.

He stared up at Kumo with both mismatched eyes, and took a slight step back.

"Kakashi?" Obito asked as the fox stepped away from them, looking between Kakashi and Kumo with a puzzled expression, "Hey, I'm sorry we brought someone random and weird but he's cool and everything so you don't have to run away!"

Kumo himself, meanwhile, was trying to absorb all of the new information. How Obito talked to Kakashi as though the fox were indeed a person, for example. And how Kakashi seemed to understand. And what was an arctic fox doing in temperate Konoha? And its eyes were two different colors. It _definitely_ wasn't a normal fox.

"Don't worry, Kakashi, he's a friend of mine," Shimenawa said, trying his best reassuring smile, crouching down next to the fox and offering a hand as if to carry him. This was normally the part where he'd encourage Kakashi to take human shape again, but, all things considered... "Let's go back to my place, okay? You must be freezing after being out here so long..."

But Kakashi wasn't really paying attention anymore. The Sharingan looked right through the man standing in front of him, tomoe spinning wildly; he blinked and he was a boy again all on instinct -- he knew the soul standing in front of him -- _he knew this man _and this man was--

"Daddy," he whispered, stricken and suddenly very cold, as the dojo flashed before his eyes.

"..._what_?" Kumo and Obito gasped almost in unison as Obito gaped at Kumo and Kumo gaped at Kakashi. Kakashi abruptly turning into a boy was unsettling at best, and then-- had he just called Kumo _'daddy'_?

"Hey," Kumo managed, still trying to recover himself, "I know I did some pretty crazy things in high school and while I was in the ninja academy but... I don't think I managed to knock anyone up, I don't think. Did I have sex with a fox lady? You'd think I would've noticed something like that. Was I really drunk? Hey, Sunshine, why didn't you stop me from going off with a fox?"

Shaking his head still, he stepped forward and knelt before the boy, tugging down his mask as he did so.

"You... you _do_ look an awful lot like me," he murmured under his breath, reaching out hesitantly to touch Kakashi's silver locks, "Even your hair..." His expression was slightly hurt but mostly baffled as he turned his head to look up at Shimenawa.

"What've you been hiding from me, Sunshine? And... why?"

As Kumo looked back at him, bare face lined up next to Kakashi's, Shimenawa had no clue how he could have failed to put the pieces together. They could almost have been twins, save for a longer, more aquiline turn to Kumo's nose; a little more pout to Kakashi's lips; the crimson eye. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, though, and they'd been high school friends -- Shimenawa hadn't exactly been looking for reincarnated members of the Hatake clan in his freshman class, and Kumo hadn't helped matters, dying his hair black with his Gothic friends and always wearing the facemask ("it's ninja tradition, and it looks cool!" he'd always protested), though now that Shimenawa thought about it that really should have been even more of a red flag --

"I..." He gaped, feeling momentarily lost for words. This was _not _how he'd been expecting his day to go when he woke up this morning. "I didn't..."

His half-coherent words were cut off by Kakashi's quiet whimper. The kitsune had curled into a ball, snow-encrusted tail wrapping around his legs, shaking from more than the cold as he stared down toward the ground. His anxious expression had faded into complete blankness.

Obito stumbled forward when no one else moved, all but shoving past Kumo to get to Kakashi. He felt protective, felt terrified, felt inexplicably angry at Kumo for doing this to Kakashi even though it wasn't anyone's fault. He dropped to his knees beside Kakashi and tried to find a way to hold him, hands lingering helplessly in midair.

"H-hey, Kakashi," he whispered, settling for lightly setting his hand on Kakashi's shoulder, "What's wrong? I mean, he's not... he's not _really_, I mean, he looks a lot like... but... Kakashi? Please say something, Kakashi?" Obito's voice caught the way it did shortly before he began to tread the thin line between unease and hysteria.

"Sunshine, do me a favor as a friend and fill me in," Kumo spoke to Shimenawa quietly under his breath as he stood and backed up, pulling his mask back in place, "You didn't know before. That's fine. You know now. Tell me."

Shimenawa took a deep breath and reached up to rub at his temples a little. "...You're never going to believe me," he murmured back, shaking his head a little. "Give us a bit to get Kakashi calmed down, all right? And we'll head back to my place. This is a conversation I'd rather have where it's warm."

He moved to crouch down next to Kakashi in the snow again, pursing his lips as he too reached out to the boy. Knowing what Shimenawa knew, it didn't take a genius to figure out why Kakashi would be disturbed by the sight of Hatake Sakumo.

"Kakashi?" he said gently, cupping the boy's face in his hand. "Kakashi, can you look at me?"

Kakashi gave another quiet whimper at the touch, but other than that, it didn't really register. He had to be quiet. And stay still and... because... because he had _then_, and they weren't going to stay if he moved his hands all the insides were going to come out and then Daddy wouldn't get up so he had to wait and wait and

"Kakashi," Sensei's voice insisted.

"They'll come out," he mumbled, shaking his head a little, folding his arms tighter around his knees. "Don't move..."

"Kakashi, everything's okay," Obito forced out, trying to put things in perspective, trying to think of what he would say to himself. It was almost the same, he imagined, him and Kakashi that day and Kakashi and his dad. Too late, too much blood, too little left to ever be okay again. What could he say? Nothing could make those images, those memories, any less harsh than they were. Everything _wasn't_ okay, and yet...

"Will you come back? With me, please? It's me. You still know me, right...?" There was a hint of true fear in Obito's voice then, that Kakashi wouldn't remember him because where he was right now, Obito didn't exist yet. "It's Obito. Let's go together, okay?" Clumsily, Obito managed to find Kakashi's hand and he gripped it tightly, pressing a kiss into his palm the way he had before, back when they first met again.

Kumo watched this all in silence, seeing how badly damaged Kakashi was. What could have happened to that boy...? And... the way Shimenawa refused to answer him made it fairly clear that he was, somehow, the boy's father. Which was a bit funny to Kumo in spite of all the seriousness, because as far as he remembered he had mostly if not entirely slept with other guys. And Kakashi looked at least as old as him, though perhaps a few years younger. Then again, there was the whole fox thing. He really wanted to find out what was going on and he had the feeling that maybe things would progress better if he made himself scarce, since he seemed to be the cause of the problems.

Carefully, Kumo stepped back into his own tracks to keep the snow from crunching a few steps before he disappeared from view altogether. There was a candy bar he had been coveting all morning anyway. The rest of them could find him enjoying it back at Shimenawa's place when they managed to get things together.

Shimenawa registered the other man's departure, but made no indication of it as he sat there, soothingly stroking Kakashi's hair. Undoubtedly Kumo had picked up on at least an inkling of the reasons behind Kakashi's present state -- he was a smart guy and a kind one, and removing himself from the premises was probably all he'd been able to think of in the way of doing something to help. ... Or this had triggered some memories. For Kumo's sake, Shimenawa hoped it was the former, not the latter.

Kakashi, for his part, had gone from mostly-blank silence to whimpering a little more, which was probably a good sign. He gripped Obito's hand very hard, breathing raggedly as if he were about to cry; but nothing came. Daddy... Daddy was... no, _Obito _was--

A moment later he whipped his head around to stare at the other boy, eyes very wide. Sensei's hand paused against his hair.

"Kakashi...?" Obito breathed, relieved that Kakashi was at least responding. He held his breath in case, because he had no idea if this meant Kakashi was going to get better or worse, but almost anything was better than Kakashi retreating into himself like that. He didn't notice Kumo leaving, but there was very little in his world outside of Kakashi right now.

"Are... are you okay? Are you ready to come home, Kakashi?"

Kakashi sat there shaking for a second longer, and took a deep breath, and swallowed. Expression calming just a little bit, he looked at Obito and hesitated, and gave a shaky nod. There wasn't... this was now and that was then, and there wasn't, and he wasn't and... where was he?

"...W-where...?" He uncurled himself a little bit, glancing around, before attaching himself to Obito's side. He wanted to -- to touch. And be touching and. And there hadn't even been a man there, had there, yes there no. His head had put the man there and that was all, wasn't it? But the Sharingan had. But. He didn't. He.

"He went back to my house," Shimenawa told him gently, rising and brushing the snow off his legs.

_...Oh._

Kakashi's eyes widened a little.

Obito wound his arms around Kakashi, giving him a tight squeeze before helping his friend to his feet.

"Want to..." Obito stumbled over his words and he drew in a deep breath before trying again, "Want to do your fox thing, Kakashi? I'll... I'll carry you home." He would have been afraid that perhaps Kakashi might not be able to be coaxed to turn back but Obito wanted to be a little selfish just then, wanted to cuddle Kakashi in his arms until everything was better again.

"Mm..." Kakashi laid his head against Obito's shoulder, and a moment later there was a rather snow-covered fox hanging there, little claws clinging to Obito's jacket. Obito quickly wrapped his arms around Kakashi's wriggling little body before he fell, snuggling into the soft fur. Kakashi curled his wet tail around his body and pressed his nose against Obito's encircling arm; and then Shimenawa was beckoning them, and they started back toward home.

-----

The house was quiet when they walked in the door. Shimenawa took off his shoes, dumped his coat in a corner of the doorway, and turned back to smile at his two boys, ruffling Obito's hair a little. "I'm going to make some hot chocolate, so you two get some towels and get yourselves warmed up, okay?" he said, waving them toward the bathroom. "You can borrow my stuff if you need a change of clothes, of course." He smiled again at Obito's affirming nod, and promptly took himself off to the kitchen, smile replaced by a sigh as he walked through the doorway. Oh, he was _not _looking forward to this.

"Hot chocolate, Sunshine?" Kumo was already in the kitchen, now dressed in just pants, mask, and an apron he had dug out of one of Shimenawa's closets, ladling hot milk from a simmering pot on the stove. He filled three mugs and soup bowl because he hadn't been able to find a fourth cup, then spooned generous amounts of hot chocolate mix into each before stirring the powder in.

"You're too predictable," he sighed fondly as he walked back over to offer his poor, overstressed and overworked old friend a mug to call his very own.

"Cheer up, Sunshine. I made you some of my infamous deep fried cookies too."

Shimenawa could only blink in surprise for a moment before giving his friend a grateful smile, accepting the mug and taking a seat at his kitchen table. "You were busy then," he observed cheerfully, wrapping his cold hands around the wonderfully warm mug of cocoa.

"...Sorry about all the commotion," he ventured after a moment, with an apologetic, slightly hesitant smile. "I'm used to those two so I don't think about it much, I suppose, but they can certainly be a handful."

"Used to them?" Kumo shook his head at that, returning to the counter to balance two mugs, a plate of cookies, and a bowl in his arms. "I thought you looked a little skinnier and off color, Sunshine. You have to take better care of yourself before you get to nag me anymore." He nodded toward the living room where he assumed the boys were and gave Shimenawa a slight searching look before asking, "You ready to go out there yet or would you like some heart attack cookies and some more sympathy from me? I admit I'm more curious about this than I was about whether or not our art teacher was really stashing hallucinogenics in his desk, but my curiosity can wait. You look like you're about to..." _...break down_ "...have a cookie, Sunshine. Won't do your body much good, but it does wonders for your soul."

Shimenawa was one of those scary happy people for Kumo, hence the nickname. The one kid in the world high school never got down, and probably the only person who'd kept Kumo from destroying himself in one way or another. Shimenawa'd gotten him to quit smoking, quit taking drugs, almost managed to get him to quit drinking, and managed to keep the sharp pointy things and nooses at bay and out of Kumo's hands.

The only thing he hadn't managed to get Kumo away from was the army, but Kumo wasn't dead yet so he figured Shimenawa had played his cards right. So all of this? Deeply unsettling for Kumo. Who was watching out for his Sunshine when his Sunshine was too worried about those kids out there to take care of himself?

Shimenawa accepted one of the cookies with a laugh, sipping at his slightly cooled-off hot cocoa and then taking a bite. They were as heavenly as ever -- and man, had it been a while. Kumo wasn't generally the cooking type even when he was around to do it. "Mmmmm. I can actually feel my arteries clogging," Shimenawa declared with a sage nod, feeling... very glad his friend had come around yesterday. Even if it meant that he was now going to have to give an unspeakably awkward explanation.

"...I sent the boys off to get themselves dry," he informed the other man, and nodded toward a chair. "So we have some time to ourselves." Looking down thoughtfully at his mug of cocoa for a moment or three, he laughed again quietly, shaking his head a little before he paused to take a sip.

"Though, I'm... really not sure where to start," he confessed.

"Beginnings are a good place," Kumo mimicked Shimenawa's sagely doctor voice as he set down the two mugs and the platter of cookies on the kitchen table. He held the bowl of hot chocolate in one hand and two incredibly unhealthy cookies in the other. (Shimenawa really didn't need to know, but among Kumo's list of ingredients for the cookies were things like lard and the fancy slightly expensive chocolate that was 90 fat.) "How I managed to spawn and not know and how you managed to be around my kid so much and not realize he's mine would be cool too. Is he really... I mean, well... is he really mine? And... how did he recognize me? And why was he so terrified?" There were about a few thousand more questions running amok in Kumo's head, but Shimenawa was only one man and Kumo had to acknowledge that, so he held back the rest and waited.

"Um. Well, as to whether he's your kid... yes and no." Shimenawa frowned down thoughtfully at his mug, turning it around slowly between his hands.

"...You know all those times you've talked about people reincarnating and I've given you weird looks?... It wasn't because I didn't agree with you," he confessed wryly. He didn't look over at Kumo as he took another sip of his hot chocolate.

"You've never actually had any kids this life, at least that I know of. But Kakashi... remembers you from a previous one, I think," he murmured, glancing over to give his friend a sheepish smile. Of course he did more than _think, _but he certainly wasn't the expert on everything that might have happened to Kakashi over the past several thousand years.

"...knocking up a kitsune-lady in disguise in a former life is a little less creepy, I guess," Kumo managed, taking a bite out of one of his cookies because now was definitely the time for comfort food. "So, then... am I _actually_ his dad or do I just look like his dad or what? And how did you get mixed up with him? Them? What? I just confused myself."

"...Um. Well."

Shimenawa looked over at the other man, and reached up to scratch his head a little embarrassedly. He guessed there was nothing for it. And, really, if there was anyone who had a right to know, it was Kumo.

"I've actually... never told anyone this before, but." He smiled awkwardly. "Um. Also I'm going to sound completely crazy, but, that is to say..."

Except as he got there it sounded so completely ludicrous that he wasn't sure how to say it.

"...You're army..." He glanced away, fiddling with his half-eaten cookie. "Do you remember hearing in history, or reading about somewhere, maybe, or whatever..." God, this was embarrassing. Even _Kumo _couldn't possibly believe him. "...a certain Hokage? Name of Yellow Flash?"

"Sure I do," Kumo gave Shimenawa a puzzled and slightly suspicious look, "I might've never paid much attention in class, but one thing I was good at was watching people, and Yellow Flash is the guy you turned three different colors for when the teacher covered the Fourth Hokage. You were slightly less off color than when they discussed the Third Hokage's death but slightly more than when we covered all the other guys on that hunk of a rock behind the city. What's the baby face who looks like he was your mom have to do with anything?"

"...Um."

He paused. There really was nothing for it. The whole rest of the unbelievable story basically started from here.

"I'm him," Shimenawa confessed, with a very sheepish grin.

"You..." Kumo trailed off, giving Shimenawa a rather skeptical look now, "You're playing with me, right, Sunshine? The freaky fox thing and the past life thing I can take but... my little Sunshine? Kid I saved from getting duct taped and left in the stairwell? Kid I used to fish out of his locker after the seniors locked him in? The Fourth Hokage? No _way_."

Shimenawa's smile turned apologetic again, and he set his cookie down on the table as he pushed his chair out, rising from his seat.

"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry I never said anything before, but..."

He didn't even make any seals. One moment he was standing next to his chair, and a second later, there was a tiny gust of wind in the kitchen, and he was perched on the edge of the table next to Kumo's seat as if he'd always been there.

"It's not the sort of thing you figure anyone will ever believe, y'know?" he said with an abashed sort of grin.

It was only through years upon years of grueling training a field work that Kumo managed to keep himself from spilling his hot chocolate everywhere as he jumped back several feet.

"God damnit!" he swore, hugging his bowl to his chest, "You know better than to sneak up on me, Sunshine! Trigger happy, remember? _Trigger happy_." He shook his head, feeling a strange sort of hum in the back of his mind as he began to speak again.

"I _still_ hate it when you do that!"

Shimenawa blinked. _Still_...?Ah well, there were more important things to dwell on right now than whether he had ever snuck up on Kumo before. "Er, sorry about that," he said, scratching his head as he hopped down to the floor again, "should've thought to warn you." For the sake of the other man's pride, he chose not to mention that there was no need for him to worry whether Kumo might have attacked him or not. Shimenawa was sure his friend had quite enough to absorb without any further reminder that his happy-go-lucky high school buddy was also an ancient, powerful Hokage."...Anyway." He paused a moment to let Kumo breathe a little, and returned to his own seat, trying not to make any sudden movements. Kumo's startle reflex was more violent than he remembered, and he wondered grimly for a moment what the other man must have gotten himself into, fighting out on the army's front lines. "I know it sounds insane... besides my jutsu and my looks, I don't really have any good way of proving it. But... he's me. I'm him." The doctor shrugged. "I'm a reincarnation, but I've known since I was born... there's never been a time when I didn't remember.""Kakashi and Obito..." He nodded toward the kitchen door. "They were students of mine, in that life, before I became Hokage."

Kumo managed to settle himself again two more cookies and half his bowl of hot chocolate later and he relaxed again, trying to sort out all the new information in his head.

"Okay, Sunshine. You always were a creepy kid, so let's say you were the Hokage and Kakashi and Obito were your team. And I'm... am, was, whatever. Kakashi's dad. With you so far. Now what in fuck's name did I do to that boy for him to look at me like I locked him in a closet and fed him chicken bones his entire childhood?"

"...Well."

Shimenawa took another long sip of his cocoa, expression uncomfortable.

"The version of you in that life.." He phrased it carefully, wanting very much to separate Sakumo-of-then from Kumo-of-now. "He... he died very suddenly. Kakashi was extremely young at the time... he didn't have any other family, either," the doctor explained, misrepresenting the problem entirely and feeling awkward, but definitely not guilty about it. Kumo was a good man and... just did not need to know. "It affected him... very strongly. He had nightmares about it all the time as a young child." Shimenawa's countenance was sober as he nibbled at a cookie.

"Running into you so suddenly probably just brought it all crashing down on him again..." He smiled a little sheepishly. "And, well, he's um, not the most stable person even on his best days, so."

"...ah," Kumo responded simply, not really knowing what to say. Those were the times, he supposed. It was one of the main reasons he had no plans of settling down this time around. Death was way too likely of a possibility for him, and he didn't like the idea of leaving anyone behind to be too sad. Except for, well, Shimenawa was kind of a fluke. And now that had all changed for him.

"Huh. I always knew I'd be a shitty dad," he finally shrugged as he brought his now empty bowl to the sink, absently washing it before setting it on the drying rack. It was probably the first dish he'd washed in at least a few years. "Anything else I should know about, Sunshine? Kind of feels like you're still holding out on me."

_Well, Kakashi becoming a reincarnated millennia-old kitsune came _after _you, he's watched Obito die more times than I want to think about, and also, you killed yourself. _Shimenawa gave his friend another wry, sheepish smile as he reached up to rub at his temples. He was going to have to break out the aspirin soon.

"There's a few more details I could go into, but at this point, I'm afraid the more I say the more confused I'm going to make you," he said, shaking his head with a short laugh. "I'm really sorry to spring all this on you so suddenly. I can't imagine what you must be thinking right now."

"Me? Don't worry about me, Sunshine," Kumo reassured, offering his friend a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, "I'm sure all the headache and woe and whatnot will come later. Right now I'm just busy being relieved I didn't knock up a kitsune during one of my drunken fits." He grinned in an agreeable manner then, deciding that his old buddy needed cheering up more than he needed to be confused right then, so he thoughtfully tapped his finger to his lips, hoping to distract Shimenawa from his grave, serious worries with far more frivolous ones. Such as the very high possibility that Kumo would suck Obito into his dark eating habits and both of them would die within the year of full cardiac arrest.

"I wonder if the boys could use some of my fudge tempura. And you, too. We all need cheering up. Fudge tempura is _great_ for cheering people up."

It seemed Kumo's methods of assassination had become far more subtle.

"...Fudge _tempura?_" That was a new one on Shimenawa, and he turned to blink disbelievingly at the other man for a moment -- before frowning and glancing toward the kitchen doorway.

"Speaking of the boys, they're taking an awfully long time... I'd've expected Obito to be in here demanding his hot chocolate by now," the doctor murmured, rising and stepping out to go see what was up. "Obito? Kakashi?" he called as he walked into the living room.__

"We're here, Sensei," Obito replied rather softly for him, curled up on the couch with Kakashi snuggled up against him. They were mostly dry and dressed in clean pajamas, a small, thin blanket draped over their legs. Kakashi still looked rather out of it and Obito was doing his best to keep his friend calm and somewhat lucid, gently rambling about ramen and crane games and how red beans were highly superior to green beans.

Kumo was lingering by the kitchen door, peering in, not quite daring to come out for fear of upsetting Kakashi but at the same time unable to stay away. For reasons unbeknownst to him, looking at Kakashi made him feel a sort of... heartbroken pride. As though he was unspeakably proud of the boy, but deeply grieved for the fact that he was able to be unspeakably proud of the boy. Not that that made any sense, of course, but it was what he felt.

Shimenawa had to smile a little at the scene, and he turned back around to go grab the remaining mugs of cocoa out of the kitchen. "I'm afraid it's not really _hot _chocolate anymore, but, it's chocolate?" he said with a sheepish smile as he walked over to set the mugs on the coffee table for his boys to get to at their leisure.

"Um, our friend made it," he said quietly, giving Obito a slightly helpless grin.

Leaning over them, he gave both boys a firm hug, ruffling Kakashi's hair a little as he pulled away. Sometimes it was very hard to believe they were the age they were -- Obito _occasionally _acted all 18 of his years, and Kakashi... well, who knew what you were supposed to act like when you were three-thousand-and-change, but -- at times like this it didn't feel very different at all from when his kids had been _kids, _way back then; throwing snowballs or splashing water or initiating the occasional food fight, camping out under the stars together, sleeping over at his house. The only thing that could have made this scene more perfect would be to have Rin sitting in the armchair reading one of her girly romance books. She certainly would have giggled at the idea of Obito and Kakashi curled up cuddling the way they were now.

"How are you? Feel better?" he asked Kakashi, stroking his hair fondly.

Kakashi nodded, looking a little shy -- perhaps a little embarrassed, Shimenawa amended. He'd been the same way as a child; the Yellow Flash had always been able to tell when the boy's nightmares had run toward his father, from how angry he got at himself after he woke. Shimenawa supposed the embarrassment must be as much a reflex as the pain by now.

After too much longer, he rose from his spot, turning away toward the kitchen again to leave the boys to their own devices. He still had another friend to see to.


	13. Chapter 13

Second Sight

_Chapter Thirteen_

Eventually afternoon passed into evening passed into night, and somehow they all managed to get themselves to sleep. The boys took permanent residence of the couch, which left Kumo commandeering three-fourths of Shimenawa's bed, but that wasn't much different from the scattered sleepovers of their childhoods so at least Shimenawa was used to it. When morning came, Kumo was up first, climbing out of bed (and all over Shimenawa) just as dawn was breaking.

"Hey, Sunshine," he mumbled groggily, rubbing his eyes as he re-adjusted his face mask, groping around the bed for the lighter that had fallen out of his pocket in the middle of the night. He found it somewhere between Shimenawa's legs and reclaimed it without so much as blinking before he turned away to find his weathered canvas backpack that held all of his worldly possessions. It was the kind of guy he was, drifting from place to place, country to country, living from couches to hotel rooms to sleeping in the trees. And more than that, he was perfectly happy about it.

"Gotta get to the train station in a few. Don't know when I'll be back again, but keep the back door unlocked for me, yeah?" he yawned, slinging his just-found backpack over his shoulder.

Shimenawa was still half-asleep; he blinked quizzically at the other man for a moment, and then frowned. "Kumo-- wait--"Kumo just squatted down next to his old friend and affectionately patted his blonde locks. "You don't have to see me off. It'd be a sin to drag your baby face out of bed this ungodly hour."

The doctor sighed a little as he sat up, looking slightly disgruntled -- he'd known the other man was leaving today, but it just figured Kumo would choose this kind of timing. There was no winning, really; in the time it took Shimenawa to get dressed, his friend would be out the door and gone. He grimaced and tried to hold back a yawn.

"Always running off before we can say goodbye, Sakumo..." he murmured without thinking about it, still not quite awake yet.

"That's because goodbyes are bad luck, Sunshine," Kumo answered with a quiet laugh, planting a playful kiss on Shimenawa's brow before he straightened, "You get to say goodbye to me at my funeral and only then, because--" Something finally clicked in Kumo's somewhat still sleep-buzzed mind and he cut himself off to frown slightly at Shimenawa.

"...when did I tell you my real name?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest, "I swear I haven't gone by that since primary school, and I didn't know you then."

Shimenawa blinked confusedly at the other man for a moment, until it clicked. He glanced away with a sheepish smile.

"Er... you didn't, I don't think. Take care of yourself, all right?" He looked back Kumo's way with a fond expression as he pulled up the rumpled sheets a little. "And come by again when you get the chance."

"Will do, Sunshine," Kumo nodded, shrugging it off. Being called Sakumo wasn't a big deal, other than it tended to remind him of his stuffy now-deceased parents. It had just thrown him off to hear Shimenawa call him anything other than his nickname.

Pulling on an extremely wrinkled and threadbare shirt, he shouldered his bag once more and headed out the door. On the road again, he thought to himself as he made his way to the train station.

Somehow, it wasn't as satisfying as it used to be.

- - -

It was a little after five AM when Kumo walked out the door; a little after five-thirty when Shimenawa got back to sleep; and a little after eight when he woke up again, the first flush of winter sunrise shining in his eyes. He yawned and stumbled out of bed and stretched, and after a minute or two of waking up, headed off toward the kitchen to finish the job with some coffee.

Kumo may have left, but his boys were still curled up in their spot on the couch, he noted with a fond smile as he walked past. They'd pulled it out into a bed, but they were pressed so close together they might as well not have bothered with the extra space; Kakashi's tail was tickling the side of Obito's face, and Obito's--

...wait a second.

It was _Monday._

Shimenawa glanced between the clock and his sleeping students, and let out a rather long-suffering sigh.

"Obito..." He walked over to shake the boy by one shoulder a little, speaking close to his ear. "Obito! You have work!"

"Nnngh," Obito groaned as he rolled over onto Kakashi, sleepily feeling up the other boy until he decided that Kakashi was a pillow and snuggled him accordingly, "Nooo, Sensei... Don't wanna... walk the dogs... Make Kakashi do it 'cause... the dogs... don't bite him..."

"Obito." Shimenawa leaned over right next to the boy's ear again. He was going to regret this if Obito suddenly sprang up, but, well. "Your job. You're going to be late. No dogs, but a lot of construction work, or so I hear?"

Kakashi blinked his eyes open blearily at the continued noise, staring up at the ceiling with a sleepy expression. There was something very weird about that ceiling... it was... ... not their house. Right. Whose... Sensei's house. No, Sensei's ceiling was different, it had rafters and there was a bat living up there and, no, wait, was that a different... no, he was pretty sure... well, he _probably _hadn't woken up in the past, so maybe he'd woken up in the future. Wait, he had _definitely _woken up in the future because yesterday was the future from today and, no, wait, that was tomorrow, tomorrow was the future of yesterday and... it... what was he thinking about again?

The kitsune sighed up at the ceiling for a second before curling up a little closer to Obito and closing his eyes again.

Obito's brow furrowed slightly.

_Construction work_.

That was... definitely not a Genin-appropriate mission. It wasn't a mission at all. In fact, it was--

"Oh crap!" Obito's eyes opened wide as he forced himself up, narrowly missing bumping heads with Shimenawa.

"What time is it?" he asked as he threw the sheets off him. Or, well, he tried to but he was fairly tangled in them and in his half asleep state, failed to notice this and tried to get out of bed anyway. With a yelp, he toppled out of bed and more or less landed on his face. Doing a sort of one-foot hop, he managed to free himself from the sheets and stumble toward the bathroom. "Nevermind! Don't tell me! I know I'm late and I'm just going to," Obito's voice grew muffled as he changed with the door still half open, "go and, uh... uh... Okay done changing now! Take care of Kakashi for me today okay? Bye!"

Obito seemed to be inheriting Shimenawa's Yellow Flash abilities as by the time he was running out the door a few seconds later as he looked as though he had two slices of jam-and-bread held in his mouth as he finished pulling on his jacket.

"Remember to chew that before you swallow it!" the young doctor shouted out the door after him, watching Obito go with a grin and a slight shake of his head. Hopefully they'd let the boy off the hook again. He was a hard worker, and thinking about it, Shimenawa imagined they were probably quite used to him showing up late by now... Turning away with a chuckle, he closed the door and started off to see about his coffee.

As he passed the couch again, he noticed that Kakashi was awake; the boy was staring up at the ceiling with the sheets tangled around his legs, looking thoughtfully confused. Shimenawa bent over the folded-out bed to ruffle his hair a little. "Morning," he said with a fond smile.

Kakashi blinked up at him, smiling back a little on reflex, and cocked his head slightly to one side. "Morning... Sensei... it's the future, right? Not the past?" He made a thoughtful little frown as though the issue was concerning him greatly.

"Mm," Shimenawa paused for a reflective moment himself, "Neither. It's still the present, I believe. But I can always grab today's paper to make sure."

"...Really?" Kakashi said seriously, and looked back up at the ceiling for a moment longer, blinking again. "...Oh."

Well, that made sense. If he didn't think about it too hard. He nodded, semi-satisfied, and sat up to start extricating himself from the very rumpled sheets.

"Do you want some breakfast, Kakashi?" Shimenawa inquired gently as he stepped back to give Kakashi room to get up, casting a short glance into the kitchen to see how his coffee was doing. Almost done, he noted with a satisfied nod to himself. "It's just the two of us this morning, so I can make you anything you like."

"Umm..." Kakashi blinked up at him absently as he pulled his tail out from the mess too, adjusting his baggy, uncomfortably-skewed pajama pants a little. "...French toast?" he requested, looking hopeful. Sensei liked that too, right? He seemed to have a dim recollection.

"Ahhhh... Excellent choice," Shimenawa nodded with the sort of smile that was not terribly far from delight, clasping his hands together before ushering Kakashi to the bathroom. "Wash your face, brush your teeth, your hair, and your tail, and breakfast should be done." He stayed just long enough to make sure Kakashi followed his instructions before departing for the kitchen.

Fixing himself a mug of coffee, he carried it in one hand and sipped at it while he expertly prepared the fresh bakery bread for French-toasting. He let the slices sizzle on a lightly butter-coated pan until golden brown, cut them into little animal shapes out of pure habit if nothing else, piled the animals on one plate and the excess crusts on another, dusted them with cinnamon and powdered sugar, and warmed a small jug of syrup because he personally abhored it when his syrup caused his toast to cool. Then he made Kakashi a mug of lightly sweetened steamed milk and set it all on the table, waiting for the boy in question to join him.

...somewhere in the back of his mind, he was grudgingly admitting to himself that just maybe Kumo had a point when he teasingly lamented that it was a waste that Shimenawa was a man because he would have made someone an excellent housewife. He quickly took another sip of his coffee before he set it down, because he felt his grip threatening to crack the handle clean off. Ah, what an infuriatingly endearing person Kumo was.

Kakashi appeared a few minutes later with a hairbrush still in his hand, working on the end of his tail, which was twitching slightly as he held it flat against his body. He narrowly avoided running into a cabinet as he walked into the kitchen, stopping a few steps into the doorway to work on a stubborn tangle. It smelled _really _good in here... Sensei's cooking always made him happy. He glanced up to smile at the man for a second before continuing to work on his appointed task. Stupid tail, anyway.

"Sit," Shimenawa commanded, holding out his hand, "and give me the brush. Eat your breakfast before it gets cold." Oh, good lord he sounded like a mother. Trying not to cringe at himself, he took the brush from Kakashi and helped him work free all the tangles in his tail much the way he might have brushed out the hair of a daughter had he ever had one.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked for the sake of conversation as he picked up stray clumps of Kakashi fluff to throw in the garbage.

Kakashi picked up a kitty-shaped piece of French toast, but elected to simply sit there turning it around in his fingers until Shimenawa had finished with his tail. As the doctor came back from the trash can, Kakashi offered it to him, picking up a bear-shaped piece for himself.

"Um... guess so..." he blinked at the tablecloth for a moment, trying to think about what sleeping felt like. Had he dreamed? It felt like he'd dreamed. But it was all very hazy and vague and seemed to lurk right on the edges of his waking brain, as though he could _almost _remember if he could just pounce on it, but it kept running away from him.

...There was something wrong with that, but he couldn't quite think what. He stared soberly down at the table for a second longer before giving up, pouring some syrup for dipping his bear and beginning to nibble on its ears.

"Was Obito snoring again?" Shimenawa teased lightly as he took the offered French toast, trying not to look too worried for Kakashi. Things would work themselves out somehow if they just took it slow. Perhaps Kakashi would even be able to accept Sakumo's existence with time. Shimenawa didn't worry for it too much because Kumo was notoriously flighty, going stretches of months and years without dropping by. He had let go of his breath every time Kumo left for a tour of duty because holding it had finally gotten to be too much. The other man had only visited perhaps six, seven times in the last ten years, after all. So there was plenty of time to help Kakashi adjust. And in the meantime, there was French toast.

"Nope. But he did drool on me," the kitsune offered helpfully, looking down at a spot on his shirt that was definitely not his doing while he munched on his breakfast. Finishing a piece of toast, he reached for the milk, turning his mug idly around in his hands for a minute before he took a sip. His untangled tail swung behind him as he ate in silence for a while.

"That must mean he slept very well," Shimenawa smiled as he slowly worked his way through his own plate of odds and ends of toast. He quieted after that, not knowing what else to say. The silence, for once, was a comfortable one, almost familiar. Kakashi as he remembered him to be had always been such a quiet child.

The pair of them sat there together for a while longer, having a pleasurable, quiet breakfast. Shimenawa's mug of coffee dwindled and was refilled; Kakashi drank his steamed milk, and worked rather methodically on his French toast.

He had finished the bears and elephants, and was onto the bunny rabbits by the time it dawned on him what exactly was wrong. Yesterday there had...

He stopped and stared at his food, and shivered for a second.

_--he moved he wasn't supposed to move and they all came out--_

There had -- definitely -- been

_--quiet, nothing but quiet, everywhere, forever, maybe you'll just sit here for the rest of your life, maybe you're dead--_

...Sensei had said. What had he said?

"Sensei...?" Kakashi frowned slightly at his plate for a moment and then glanced up at his teacher, expression opaque.

"Where did the man go...?"

"That man...?" Shimenawa blinked as he stirred more sugar into his coffee. Then it clicked and his hand stilled, inwardly grimacing. This was definitely not taking things slowly. "Ah, yes," he nodded with a slightly awkward smile, "He had to go back to his work this morning, but... he'll be back. He always comes back." He paused, not wanting to push Kakashi or put any strange ideas in the boy's head.

"Is something the matter?" he asked instead of questioning why, feeling it was a safer route to steer the conversation than simply asking why.

Kakashi glanced away again, looking a bit like he wasn't sure himself. After a moment, he slowly shook his head, setting a half-eaten piece of toast back down on his plate. He rested his elbows against the table to gaze down at it soberly.

"...He was really there," the kitsune murmured, sounding, for once, very old.

"He was," Shimenawa agreed, voice softening. He reached out to gently ruffle Kakashi's hair once more. "Are you... okay with that? I didn't know your father very well back then, but Kumo... He's very loyal and a good person, but he's not terribly reliable. You can only really count on him as long as you don't expect him to be there. If you don't want to see him again it might even be for the best, but he did want to get to know you." He paused to scoot over and slowly rub Kakashi's back.

"...course he's not there," Kakashi mumbled, mostly to himself. He was quiet for a very long while.

"...I dunno."

Shaking his head slightly, he curled his legs under him in the chair, pushing his plate away a little. He wasn't really hungry anymore.

"...three thousand years... never even... thought about it, even once," came the quiet voice again, as he continued to stare down at the table.

He paused again, plucking nervously at one pant leg, before glancing back to turn his gaze full on Shimenawa with a profound sadness reflected in the mismatched eyes.

"I never looked for you either," he murmured, guiltily.

"It's alright," Shimenawa soothed, shaking his head, "You had other things on your mind. You wouldn't have been able to find me anyway. This is my first reincarnation since being your sensei, you know?" He pressed a light kiss against Kakashi's forehead and tucked some of the boy's silver hair behind his ear.

"Don't ask too much of yourself, Kakashi. You're still only one person," he smiled, resting his hand on Kakashi's shoulder, "You wouldn't ask me to move mountains, so don't ask so much from yourself either. I don't think there's anything wrong with being devoted to someone." Not to mention Shimenawa was certain exactly how little it would do for Kakashi's already fragile mental stability to have seen Kumo try to run off a five story roof. Luckily Kumo had been too drunk to realize that Shimenawa had both been on top of the building trying to stop him _and_ at the bottom, catching him. Ah, the wonders of being young and extremely stupid. But that was neither here nor now.

Kakashi sighed a little, not entirely satisfied by that idea, but willing to let the matter drop. This whole thing... he didn't quite know how he felt about... about that man. It had all been so many years ago... but... it was the first thing on the comparatively short list of things he could still remember halfway clearly... warmness and happiness and... the dojo.

_I believe the White Fang was a true hero. _Who had said...? --Obito had said. Of course.

...But, the fact of the matter was, the man... he was a stranger.

Kakashi blinked at the table again for a little while.

"...Does he like French toast?" the kitsune asked seriously at last, because he didn't even know _that _much.

"Kumo?" Shimenawa had to take a moment to actually think, "Hmmm... Depends on how likely the French toast is to kill him, I suspect. Kumo has this extremely bad habit of eating grossly unhealthy foods. He's even worse than Obito. When I try to make the toast with whole wheat bread, he complains I'm trying to destroy him and that it tastes funny. And back in school, he used to have nothing but fries for lunch. Fries covered in... mayo, was it?" He shuddered a little at the memory. Kumo's ninja training and field work was probably all that stopped him from dying of heart failure.

Well... French toast wasn't really very good for you. (Or so some niggling part of Kakashi's brain informed him.) So that meant... he probably liked it?

There. Now Kakashi knew something about him.

Nodding a little to himself, he rose from his seat, taking one last sip from the nearly-empty mug of milk. He wiped at his mouth with the back of one hand before glancing over at Sensei, hesitating, and moving to give the man a short hug.

"I'll look for you next time," he murmured against Shimenawa's shoulder, because he figured Obito would approve.

Startled, but in that warm-and-fuzzy good way, Shimenawa smiled and hugged Kakashi back, nodding. He supposed that for most people, a lifetime was a very, very long time and it was always too soon to worry about the next life, but for people like them... he held Kakashi just a little bit tighter at the thought. A lifetime was hardly any time at all.

"I don't think you'll have to," he soothed, running his fingers through Kakashi's hair, "Fate seems to have a way of bringing us together."

"Maybe." Kakashi's tone of voice was distinctly unconvinced. As far as he could tell, fate didn't seem to like him much at all; it would probably be safer if he just looked for Sensei himself. First he'd find Obito and then he'd find Sensei and maybe... maybe they'd both come back in the same place again and they could all... have French toast and throw snow at each other and... talk or... something. As long as -- as long as he could find them -- he didn't mind anything else as long as Obito just... and Sensei, he...

"...Can I go to work with you today?" he mumbled, leaning his weight against Shimenawa a little. He could come as a fox and he'd be quiet and good, and the kids could play with his tail and then he could just stay in Sensei's office and he wouldn't be... by himself.

"I'll be quiet," he promised, because really, there was nothing he hated more than being a bother.

"As long as you don't make yourself sick plundering my candy stashes," Shimenawa smiled with a nod. He'd probably have to ask Kakashi to hide under his desk for the older children, but the small ones could be easily enough convinced that the kitsune was simply a slightly strange looking puppy.

"Finish your breakfast while I get changed for work, okay? We can open shop together."


	14. Chapter 14

Second Sight

Note from the authors: We will be introducing actual, serious plot in a few chapters. xD Just as a heads up. Thanks again for sticking with us and supporting us! It means a lot. --Obito-mun

* * *

_Chapter Fourteen_

Not three weeks later, there had been some sort of motorcyclist-versus-city bus-versus-cliff wall accident just outside of Konoha one morning, and the General Hospital was absolutely swamped. They had started moving patients out of the ER to anywhere that had the room to spare to make room for the overflow. One of the temps working the reception desk was doing her very best to keep things straight as she had been charged with calling the emergency contacts of anyone fit to leave the hospital to clear space. She crossed out the twentieth or so name off a list of fifty-some and was about to move on to the next when one of the nurses came by and asked her to run a memo to a doctor who wasn't answering his pager.

Ten minutes and eight flights of stairs later, the temp was back at her desk, breathless as she dialed the emergency contact of the next name. She tried to catch her breath as she waited for the other party to pick up.

Shimenawa had just seen another patient and her mother out the door with a lollipop, an antibiotic prescription, and a smile when he heard the phone ringing back in his office. Closing the front door behind him, he quickly stumbled through the waiting room and back over to his desk, just managing to grab the phone off the hook by the fourth ring. Phew.

"Shimenawa Pediatric Clinic, Dr. Shimenawa speaking. How can I help you?" Maybe someday he should consider getting himself a secretary to do this stuff, he thought idly.

"Oh, uh," the poor girl blinked, for a moment forgetting where she was because she was young, overworked, and had more different jobs in the last few months than she could count, and definitely hadn't expected to call a clinic.

"This is Konoha General Hospital, Shizune speaking. Ah, I'm calling because you're listed as the emergency contact of Kubutsu Sakumo, who is currently in our ICU due to--" she was about to continue with 'an overflow in our ER', but someone was calling a code down the hall and a nurse yelled at her to find a doctor, startling her enough that she dropped the phone back into the receiver. She realized what she'd done halfway around the desk and grimaced, but kept running for a doctor because, well, she would just have to call again when she got back. The person crashing down the hall wasn't getting any better on his own, after all. Sighing inwardly, she decided maybe it was time to settle down with a real career.

"What? Why-- How is he--" The phone went dead and Shimenawa could only stare down at the receiver in his hand with a very cold feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Kumo shouldn't even be in _town, _what was he doing in the-- oh god, the ICU--

He didn't waste any time. Grabbing his keys and throwing on a coat, he flipped the front sign to Closed, stuck the 'sorry, having an emergency' sign on the front door (it had seemed prudent to just make one up to keep since Kakashi had come to live with them), and rushed off down the street to the bus stop. At times like these he wished his Hiraishin no Jutsu didn't need a seal to work -- it would've been nice to just teleport straight into a hospital bathroom or something...

He was fairly fidgeting with anxious worry by the time he got to the hospital. Pushing past the crowds of people coming and going and milling about the entrance, he made his way inside to the reception desk, trying to get the attention of one of the very frazzled-looking clerks. "Excuse me!"

Shizune had only just gotten back and was about to try Shimenawa's number again when he arrived. She barely looked up when he approached her because she was still trying to get a hold of, well, him because she felt just _awful_ and he was probably so very worried.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we're very busy right now. If you're here for someone who was involved in the accident on the interstate, updates are being sent directly to the waiting room."

Huh, no one was answering.

"Someone from the hospital just called me -- I'm here about Kubutsu Sakumo?" he said, leaning forward over the desk a little to try and catch her attention. He could feel his heart seize up a little at the words -- _accident on the interstate? _And knowing Kumo's run of luck he'd've been right in the middle of all of it and now he was -- was--

"Oh!" Shizune cried as she stood quickly, knocking her chair over in the process, face flushing with embarrassment, "Sir! I'm so sorry about... about..." The snobby other receptionist was glaring at her to get back to work and she swallowed, looking down at the mess of papers on the desk to see where Sakumo had been relocated.

"Uh, Kubutsu Sakumo was moved to... let me write this down for you..." she jotted down his room number and then pointed down the hall, "Elevators are around the corner."

It didn't occur to Shimenawa to ask any questions; he just accepted the note with a strained smile and nod and quickly went on his way. Though -- if they were going to just let him walk into the ICU -- that... that wasn't at all a good sign--

He took a very deep breath and just kept walking. Third floor... room twenty-seven... ...ah, here it was.

Swallowing a little, trying in vain to mentally prepare himself, he pushed open the door.

The room was empty. There was no one in the bed, but the sheets looked decently rumpled to prove that at some point or another, Kumo had been between them. The light was still on, but the occupant of the room was definitely not within. Before Shimenawa even had a chance to react, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"About damn time you got here, Sunshine. They were trying to feed me. And let me tell you, hospital food is made to kill but even that doesn't warm me up to it," Kumo was grinning and looking rather cheerful and the very image of health and vitality as long as the cast on his leg was overlooked. "You been looking for me long? I just saw a really cute doctor and had to hobble out after him to chat with a bit. You know how I've got a thing for cute doctors." He winked, then seemed to finally take in Shimenawa and all at once looked concerned, resting his hand on his old friend's shoulder.

"...you okay, Sunshine? You don't look too hot. Well, you look _hot_, just not... well?"

"Kumo-- oh my god--" Shimenawa was swaying on his feet for a moment with the sudden sheer _relief. _He took another deep breath. "They said you were in ICU and that's _all _they said -- I thought -- you--"

He stopped himself for a second to look the other man up and down with a slight frown.

"...why the hell _are _you in ICU? You're fine." His eyes alighted on the cast around one of Kumo's legs. "...Well, except for that, but."

"Didn't you hear? Some guy tried to throw himself in front of a bus and the bus ran into a cliff. Tons of people got hurt and the hospital's ER couldn't handle it," Kumo shrugged, "So I got transfered here. Wasn't about to complain either, because it's quieter... but they said they were going to call you to get me hours ago. I tried to tell them I could just limp on over to your clinic but there's paperwork and whatever yada yada so I just decided to sit tight and hit on that really cute blonde over there." He paused then, giving Shimenawa a searching look before he grinned suddenly, digging his elbow into Shimenawa's side.

"Awww, you were _worried_ about me, Sunshine. And here I was thinking that you were just waiting for GH to call you to come ID my body one of these days."

"Of _course _I was worried about you... don't even joke about that," Shimenawa protested, the expression on his face somewhere between a pout and a genuinely worried frown. As the nerves began to wear off, he was really starting to feel like he needed to be sitting; he moved over to plop down in the chair next to the bed with another deep breath that he let out in a long, heartfelt sigh.

"Well, at least we can be glad it was all just a misunderstanding," he murmured, running a hand through his hair. His eyes turned back toward the cast Kumo was wearing. "You probably shouldn't be walking on that so much... what _did _happen to you, anyway? I thought you were leaving town again?"

"I did," Kumo shrugged as he limped his way back to the bed and sat down as well, "Guess I just started missing your pretty face too much. Aren't enough cute pretty-boys in the army, I suppose, so I decided it was high time to come home. Of course, I couldn't just _quit_, so... easiest way to get back here is to ask your drinking buddy to look the other way as you accidentally get yourself caught up in some very neat earth jutsu. Luckily the bone's just cracked in a whole buncha places rather than shattered like what usually happened. You always told me I had a thick skull. I guess it applies to all my other bones, too."

Shimenawa was following him until about the third sentence.

He was quiet for a long moment; after Kumo had finished speaking he looked up at the other man slowly, expression unreadable.

"Kumo." His voice was very quiet, slow and deliberate. "Did you just tell me that you broke your own leg?"

"I really fucked up the jutsu too," Kumo sighed, seeming to completely miss anything wrong with Shimenawa's expression or tone, crossing his arms over his chest with a familiar pout, "I should practice it while I'm on leave so that it actually incapacitates people."

"_Kumo._"

Shimenawa's eyes were narrowed, and one hand was gripping the side of the hospital chair very, very tightly.

"You _broke. Your own. Leg_ just to get back here?" he managed through gritted teeth, looking like it was taking all his self-control to keep from doing something he'd regret.

"...yeah?" Kumo squeaked, shrinking away. He gripped his sheets and pulled them around himself defensively, for the first time realizing that Shimenawa was actually quite terrifying when angry.

"I thought I'd... I'd... come back and try my hand at settling down and being a dad and stuff," he shrugged, shying away from Shimenawa's wrath, "But... you know me, Sunshine. You probably know me better than I know me. I wanted to make sure I'd be able to go back if I'm too... _me_ to really do this."

Shimenawa's display of temper was cut short before it had really begun -- he stopped to blink at the other man in astonishment, some of the tension ebbing out of his body as his expression shifted into a faint, sober frown.

"You... came back for Kakashi?" he murmured; he couldn't help his surprise, even if it made him feel a little guilty. Kumo _was_ a good person, but he had never, as long as Shimenawa had known him, been the type of person that you could count on to be around for you. He was just flighty and commitment-shy by nature... but this... Even if the man was leaving himself an out in the form of the army, Shimenawa found himself amazed and, strangely, somehow proud for him that he would make the attempt at all.

"...You could've just called me and worked something out," he murmured, glancing away and shaking his head with a faint, rueful smile.

"Yeah, but that would've involved waiting," Kumo smiled back with a sheepish shrug. He fell silent then, scratching the back of his head without really knowing what to say.

"I..." he began, hesitating a moment before continuing, "We should get out of here, Sunshine. I'm pretty sure they need the room. What are the boys up to? And... you busy today?"

Shimenawa sighed again, and looked over at his friend with a grin. "You are a moron, Kumo," he declared fondly as he rose from his seat.

Not that he was planning on just letting the man get away with this, but... it _was _good to see him.

"I have work, but well," he glanced toward the clock on the wall, "it's only about an hour until closing, I can finish up early today. Obito's at his job 'til the evening and Kakashi's... somewhere," and he gave a short rueful laugh, "but he'll turn up for dinner."

He paused, looking toward Kumo again with a serious expression.

"This might not be easy, you know," the doctor murmured. "I don't know how he's going to react when he sees you again."

Kumo nodded and sighed, shrugging once more as he tried not to look too uncomfortable about the whole thing, momentarily staring at the ceiling before he hopped off the bed and landed rather gracefully on his good leg.

"Well, all I can do is try," he mused quietly before he patted Shimenawa affectionately on the head, "But don't you get too jealous, Sunshine. I'm here to see you, too. If you've got the time, you want to go out? I'll treat you to dinner."

Shimenawa gave another rueful shake of his head, still smiling.

"I suppose, as long as we're back before seven or so. Obito worries." Glancing around, he headed toward the open doorway. "So, is there a wheelchair around here? And don't even try to tell me you're not riding in one," he added genially. "Let's go get this paperwork over with..."

Quietly, they headed out of the ICU.

- - -

Dinner was fun, peppered with jokes and stupid flirting, reminiscing about old times and trading of stories -- now that his identity was no longer secret, Shimenawa was able to match Kumo blow-for-blow on the subject of amusing mishaps on the front lines, which, if he wasn't mistaken, got under the man's skin just a bit -- and despite the fearsome surprise he'd gotten earlier, the young doctor was in a generally cheerful mood as he and his friend arrived home. He sat Kumo down on the comfy couch in the living room and made him some tea before going to work on a quick dinner for two in the kitchen. It was already a few minutes past seven; the boys would probably be over any time now.

"Should I make sure the boys do their homework while you cook, Mother?" Kumo teased from the doorway to the kitchen, because he could hardly be expected to actually _stay put_ when told. And besides, the sight of Shimenawa cooking, while common, was not one to miss. The way he moved and his precision and his grace and, well... What could Kumo say? He was a man and he was a fairly gay man and he had been harboring a crush on his best friend since he was a child and said best friend happened to have an _excellent _ass.

"Sure, and then you can do the laundry and sweep for me, Papa," Shimenawa smirked over at him, waving him toward a kitchen chair with spoon still in hand. "Have a seat."

He went back to his work for a minute or three, spooning sugar into two glasses of piping-hot black tea to go with the hastily thrown-together curry bubbling on the stove.

"Thanks again for dinner. It was fun." The doctor laughed a little. "Good stress-relief."

A complete miss. Kumo lamented the fact for perhaps a split second before he limped over to the table and sat down to covet his own mug of tea, which was absolutely smothered in sweet condensed milk beyond all recognition. At this point in their lives, Kumo wasn't entirely sure if Shimenawa was still missing his not at all subtle hints on purpose, because he was used to them, because he was preoccupied, or a mixture of all of the above. But then again Kumo didn't really care. Shimenawa's persistent cluelessness was one of the things about him that Kumo honestly adored.

"I get the feeling you don't have enough of that," Kumo shook his head, "I'll just have to take you out more, get you to take a real vacation someday. You don't smile the way you used to, Sunshine. Hurts me to see."

"Well... I guess these things happen." Shimenawa grinned awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond. It was true, he'd have to admit, there were things that had been hard on him. Losing his parents this time around... even though a part of him, the part that still remembered everything about fighting and jutsus and seals and the duties of a Hokage, had never entirely thought of them as his real family, it had been every bit as difficult coming to terms with their absence this time as it had the first. At least mom had gotten to see him graduate medical school like she'd wanted...

"I'm fine though, really," he said, glancing back to give Kumo a warmly reassuring smile. "Just busy. But I kind of like being busy."

"Sunshine, I know life doesn't get memos to you a lot and you don't even really read them then, but usually things going to hell in a handbasket isn't considered 'busy'," Kumo sighed, shaking his head, "Let's see if the great Kubutsu Kumo can't settle things enough to get you to come with him to up north somewhere for some skiing and fancy restaurants and keeping each other warm."

"It's not _that _bad around here _all _the time," Shimenawa laughed (though it was true that it _was _that bad more often than he'd like, but the amount he would like was ideally _zero_).

"Hm. Well." He looked down at the rice cooker thoughtfully for a moment before beginning to spoon out portions of rice onto plates for Kakashi and Obito. Kakashi liked a little more rice, Obito preferred more curry... "A vacation's certainly not entirely out of the question. Maybe if I could sneak in some free time in a few months..." He had a number of parents who scheduled regular checkups for their kids well in advance, but if he gave them a month's notice or so...

"A few _months_, Sunshine?" Kumo groaned, shaking his head, "Only if you're not dead or irreparably insane by that point, but I guess I can only ask for so many miracles at once."

"It's really not that bad here, Kumo," Shimenawa insisted with another quiet laugh as he turned around toward his friend, setting the rice paddle down on the counter. "The boys can be a little bit of a handful sometimes, but they're basically adults, they can take care of themselves." Well, Kakashi was debatable, but he'd somehow managed to get by for three thousand years without anyone's help, which spoke well for his self-sufficiency if not for his sanity. "I just do all this," and he gestured back toward the food with a fond smile, "because they deserve a little babying."

He was acutely aware, and always had been, of the fact that he was essentially the closest thing to real family that both boys had. Father and mother all wrapped in one... he didn't like to think of it that way because it weirded him out a bit, but they deserved to have someone looking out for them, to not always have to be tough and do everything alone all the time. They deserved someone that could blunt the hard, sharp edges of the world a little for them, and as much as he was able, Shimenawa tried to be that person. He'd tried to do the same for Kumo when they were in school; he'd keep doing it, he suspected, even after this life was long gone and he was reborn as someone else. It was just in his nature.

It was exactly all of that, that thoroughly convinced Kumo that Shimenawa was _entirely _masochistic. He was so busy looking out for other people without anyone to look out for him and, well... It wasn't as efficient as Kumo's boyhood attempt to hang himself but he was certain that, given enough time, it would be just as effective. Which, of course, meant it was Kumo's job this time around to take away the metaphorical rope. Which could possibly prove to be a little difficult, given that the rope in question suffered a psychotic break upon seeing him, but one step at a time.

"Yeah, well so do you. I always had this nagging suspicion that you'd never enjoyed just being a kid a day in your life and now I _know_ so," Kumo crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, frowning half-heartedly.

Shimenawa pouted a little. "Aw. It's not like I don't have any fun," he protested. Who could deny the merits of eating too much candy? Making animal-shaped pancakes? Playing with frogs (he couldn't summon them anymore, but still got on famously with the wild variety) and puppies, making snowmen? Going out picnicking and cloud watching? Dragging the boys to amusement parks on the weekends? Nobody could say he didn't have any hobbies. And that was only the _beginning _of the list, he thought indignantly to himself. It was true that he'd always seen things a little differently than other people his age; but knowing from birth that you were actually the reincarnation of a long-dead Hokage tended to do that to a person, and he didn't see anything wrong with it.

"It may not always be sunshine and roses, but I've got a good thing going here." He raised an eyebrow at Kumo and turned back to spoon some curry onto each of the two plates before carrying them over to set down on the table. "I'm doing great, really I am. But I've taken on responsibilities here, I've made myself a necessary person. I can't just pack up and leave without even a moment's notice. Not everybody can go gallivanting off whenever they want the way you do, y'know?" There was no malice in the words, and indeed he felt none -- it was just the way Kumo was. But it _wasn't _the way _Shimenawa _was. Vacations were all well and good, but he honestly liked being at home, having somewhere to come back to.

Maybe he really should have just been somebody's housewife, he thought with a quiet chuckle as he went for the glasses of tea.

"You look _old_, Sunshine," Kumo sighed, shaking his head once more, "You're gorgeous and you're to die for but you still just... you've got that little boy face and then you've got those eyes like you should've hit the retirement home decades ago. And it worries me and it breaks my heart. You ever sit at home and wonder how I am, Sunshine? If I haven't got myself killed or in trouble or if I need saving and you're too far away to help?" Kumo was averting his eyes, staring down into his mug of tea. He was almost speaking to it, getting the way he always got when he was telling a truth he'd rather not face, when what he was saying made him uncomfortable in ways he couldn't explain.

"...I get that way about you all the time when I'm away. You help people too much, Sunshine. You're just one person and you can't fix the world all by your lonesome. And you're everyone's dad and mom and big brother and fun uncle, but you still don't let anyone in," Kumo mumbled all of this, finding it hard to say, "No one really knows you but me, Sunshine. And now I'm thinking maybe even I don't know you that well."

Shimenawa paused in place next to the table, still holding the glasses of tea. He too glanced downward for a moment, a thoughtful, sad sort of expression -- an old one, Kumo would have said -- passing across his face for a moment, before he gave another faint smile.

"You know me, Kumo." Pause. "At least, I think you do."

He set the tea down on the table, looking down at the other man's bowed head as he ran a hand through his hair, slightly sheepish.

"Either that, or I've been lying to myself all this time, which is really way too depressing to contemplate," he murmured.

After a second, he pulled out a chair and swiveled it around a little to sit next to his friend at the table.

"I'm sorry I kept some things from you," he said quietly, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked toward the door, face serious again. "But... you know all the important stuff. And if you're not sure you do, well..." He shrugged and gave another faint, solemn sort of smile. "You can always ask. I can't really think of anything I would ever refuse to tell you."

A moment later he glanced away, smile turning a little rueful. "I'm not sure I can do anything about the helping people, it's just kinda the way I am... but I can do that much, at least... Anyway."

He reached up to rest his hand on Kumo's shoulder.

"You really don't have to, but. Thanks for worrying about me," Shimenawa murmured.

"Sure I do," Kumo finally sighed in response with a helpless shake of his head, "If I didn't who would?" He paused then, feeling rather strained and tired and serious and came to the conclusion that he rather liked being run through with a katana better than this and decided a subject change was in order.

"So, Sunshine," he began in the tone of voice that had always tipped Shimenawa to head for the hills back during their school days, "I can ask you anything?"

"Umm... yes..." replied Shimenawa, whose expression was now slightly tinged with dread.

"How well did we know each other back when the kid was actually my kid?" Kumo asked mostly innocently, taking a sip of his tea to punctuate the image before he continued, "Did I do any better then?"

Shimenawa was glad he didn't have any of the tea, because without anything to drink it wasn't _quite _as obvious when he choked.

"Um-- er--- that's---..."

Coughing a little into his hand, he shook his head at the other man, slightly pouting as he replied.

"He was older than me and..." _Straight, I think, _he did not say as it would only encourage more teasing at his own expense. "Well, a senior officer, basically -- this was before I became Hokage, of course," he said, nonchalantly. "I talked with him sometimes after I started teaching Kakashi, and we ran a few missions together, but we weren't really close at all... That's probably why I never realized you were who you were," the doctor theorized with a shrug.

"I'm almost disappointed," Kumo laughed as he set down his mug to fold his hands behind his head, "But you know, on second thought I'm okay with that. It'd kind of suck to have to be jealous of myself. And kind of weird. Speaking of weird, is there any particular reason you refer to me in third person when you talk about past-life me? You're going to make me forget who we're talking about."

"Well..." Shimenawa blinked, and somehow managed to look puzzled himself, instead of guilty. "You don't remember back then... you're working with a very different set of life experiences, and in a lot of ways, that makes you essentially a separate person from who you were before." _And I never want to start thinking of you as the same, because I think I would go crazy. _"Your personalities are pretty different... I can guarantee you Hatake Sakumo would never have gone around teasing me about being somebody's mommy," he added with a laugh.

"I guess that kind of makes sense," Kumo dismissed, finding himself more and more disappointed with the person he had been. If Hatake Sakumo got any more boring, Kumo was going to start disassociating himself from, well... himself as well.

"About when did I kick it, anyway? And was it at least kind of cool or did I somehow manage to off myself like I almost did earlier today?" he switched gears away from sex momentarily to try to actually learn something about his previous life, "And how'd you get landed with my kid if we weren't that close, now?"

Shimenawa swallowed.

"Um, well... Kakashi was about six, I think... I was... eighteen?" He took a deep breath, glancing away as he tried to figure out how to talk around this subject. "You, um... he died at home... He was... sick, I think." _In heart, perhaps. _"And I, well... I was Kakashi's teacher, and he didn't have anyone else to look out for him." The doctor smiled awkwardly. "In those days a lot of war orphans lived alone, even the young ones, but I couldn't just leave a six-year-old to fend for himself... Chuunin or not."

Kumo promptly knocked over his tea but didn't have the mind to notice, instead giving Shimenawa an utter look of disbelief.

"..._six_? Kakashi was a _Chuunin_ at _six_?" he gaped, pressing a hand against his forehead, "I failed that exam like eight times! I was... what, twenty two when I finally got there? Has the test gotten seriously harder or what? ..._six_? Could I even _walk_ at six? No wonder the kid's so messed up!" If Shimenawa had been trying to distract Kumo from exactly how the White Fang had died, it was working rather well.

Shimenawa's answering smile held a note of apology to it.

"...Yeah."

He rose after a second to turn Kumo's teacup right-side-up again, and go to get some paper towels. "He was Genin at five, Chuunin at six, Jounin at thirteen... He's a genius," Shimenawa said contemplatively, walking over to blot up some of the milky tea on the tabletop and lay a paper towel or three over the part that had dripped onto the floor. "And it was wartime... and Konoha was shorthanded, and needed people with smarts. They passed kids a lot younger back then, but still... as far as I know he's the youngest to make Jounin in Konoha history, to this day," the doctor murmured, picking up the teacup to wipe it off as well.

"As far as I've been able to see, he hasn't lost his touch over time, either." Shimenawa paused for a moment, cup in hand, looking down at it with an expression half proud and half regretful. "I'd bet money he could still take down a room of ten men in two minutes, with the right equipment. Maybe less than that now -- I don't know much about his kitsune powers."

"...he gets it from me," Kumo declared with a firm nod after a thoughtful moment's pause. Because honestly, he wouldn't have failed the Chuunin exam nearly so many times if he hadn't had the fatal character flaw of caring too damn much. Throw the match so geeky clan kid wouldn't get his ass handed to him by his dad later? Sure. Ditch the written portion to go to Sunshine's parents' wake? Wasn't even a debate. Stack the tournament matches because his buddy really needed that pay raise? There was always next time. Whatever Shimenawa had that made him such a disgustingly good person was probably at least a little contagious. So maybe he wasn't a child prodigy or even appeared as though he could have sired a child prodigy in any life. He had the potential and was doing pretty well for a guy who hadn't known he wanted to have anything to do with the army until he was seventeen.

"It takes effort to die in your own home during wartime," he continued, "Actually--... You know, I think I remember some punk kid doing a report something about a Hatake Kakashi and his dad. How did it go...?" Kumo squinted as he tried to remember.

"Something about... oh god damnit, I can't remember. It was too long ago and I think I fell asleep halfway through the report. Maybe I should go look it up again when I go scope those parenting books."

Shimenawa swallowed against the way his heart suddenly threatened to burst out of his chest, and leaned down to finish the cleaning job on the floor, where Kumo couldn't see his face. "Parenting books?" he asked, putting a laugh into his voice. The idea _was _kind of funny, if he thought about it hard enough. Perhaps if he could get the other man distracted on that tangent...

"Mmhm. Like those books that tell you how not to screw up your kid," Kumo nodded, standing to help Shimenawa. He lingered a little bit before joining him because, well, his Sunshine was bending over and Kumo so hated to waste good opportunities. "I'm hoping they'll have ones that tell you what to do in the event you do end up screwing up your kid. And while I'm in the library, I might as well look up a bit more on me and my son. Kakashi'll probably be in the books a lot more than me, huh? Hatake, you said? Funny how we have the same first name. Ah, well, makes it easy to remember."

...Oh. _Fuck._

Shimenawa cringed a little on reflex, and then took a deep, quiet breath and did his very best to get his expression under control as he mopped up the last of the spilled tea.

"I, uh-- really don't think you need to go to the trouble," he said as the idea came to him, "I have quite a few parenting books right over in my office, you know. I lend them out to my clients all the time." He wore a smiling expression that he hoped didn't look strained as he rose to go throw away the wad of now-sodden paper towels.

Kumo frowned at him, gripping the edge of the table as he pulled himself back on his feet.

"Sunshine, has stress made you stupid or have you forgotten I can read you like a book?" he reminded Shimenawa almost accusingly, "Now are you going to tell me what you're hiding that's got you all worked up or do I have to duct tape you to the ceiling first?"

And because Obito had positively cosmic timing, the door slammed open just then and a streak of orange appeared in the kitchen, a little white fuzzy thing curled around his neck like a muffler.

"Oh god, Sensei, we're so sorry we're so late we weren't looking at the time and--" Obito cut himself off as he realized Shimenawa had company, "...oh hey! Your boyfriend's back! No? Mistress? Friend with benefits? Domestic partner?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Shimenawa gritted out utterly on reflex, nerves still on edge, before he'd even fully registered who he was speaking to. "Oh--" He blinked wide-eyed at the pair. "Obito-- Kakashi--"

The little white fox had perked up from its formerly relaxed position and was sitting upright on Obito's shoulders now, claws poking at his flesh and ears pricked, entire bearing tense as Kakashi stared at Kumo.

"Kumo came back to visit again," Shimenawa said quietly, his own gaze keeping close watch on Kakashi. "He wanted to talk to you and get to know you... remember, Kakashi?"

Kumo completely dropped his previous train of thought to sort of scoot himself behind Shimenawa, noticing that already his presence was having an adverse effect on his little boy. (His little boy? Where had that come from...?)

"Maybe this was a bad idea," he whispered to Shimenawa, definitely having second thoughts. Obito, meanwhile, was trying his very best to act as though nothing was wrong.

"You okay, Kakashi? I know the idea of your dad doing someone can be really gross and freaky, but you had to come from somewhere," he was beginning to ramble again, because rambling was how he got by in situations like this, "Though I guess it's double gross since he's doing Sensei. Look at what you've done, Sensei."

Even in a situation like this, Shimenawa could still pout. "Obito, I'm telling you, I'm not--"

Kakashi hopped down off Obito's shoulders.

This was... this was okay. He could do this--

_don't move your hands it'll all come out don't move your stupidhumanhands_

--he just -- wouldn't be people -- just for a minute--

_why won't he talk to you why's he smell like heshouldn'tsmellike blooddeathrotting oh god he's _rotting _like the guy you killed when you were a genin--_

--no -- come -- _come back._

For a second he blinked at the floor, swaying a little on his paws, and then he breathed deep and took a step forward, and another, and looked up at the man's face half hidden behind Sensei's hair. The man -- he was -- _Daddy _but he was... was different... somehow... wasn't he.  
_  
_He was... what was he.

Kakashi walked a little closer, but not too close, and curled up on the floor and stared a minute longer; and a minute after that there was a boy in the fox's place, curled up with legs underneath him and hugging himself, breathing just a little fast, staring up at Kumo with a guarded expression.

"You're... not... dead, right?" he mumbled, looking away and back and away again, somehow too scared to keep staring him in the face -- he didn't want to be looking if there was really a ghost and it disappeared.

"Not yet, unless the guys at base are holding out on me," Kumo laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, absently tugging his mask further up his nose. Then he grimaced at himself and rubbed his palm against his forehead, mentally ordering himself to stop acting like a teenage delinquent and more like a father. Ugh, a father. He shuddered to himself as he remembered his own suit-and-tie and 'wear formal clothes at home, Sakumo' and 'organize your socks by color, weave, and fiber, Sakumo' father. Kumo would put both himself and Kakashi out of their miseries rather than be that kind of dad.

"Uh..." he cleared his throat and moved away from Shimenawa to crouch down in front of Kakashi. Or at least he tried to, but the cast on his leg made him slip and land rather forcefully on his tail bone. After turning an interesting shade of ashen white, he tried to speak again.

"Hey, kid," he smiled the best he could manage because _oh god_ his ass hadn't hurt like that since the ninth grade. And there weren't words to begin to describe how weird it was to call someone who looked at least as old as him and was, in reality, far, _far_ older than him 'kid' but it (kind of) felt right. "I'm alive and I plan to stay that way for a very long time."

'_Especially since I haven't reeled in Sunshine yet, and if I plan on living as long as it takes to get him I'll probably live forever_.' The thought was there but Kumo kept himself from blurting that little gem out because that was his teenage delinquent self talking and it would probably only distress everyone in the room more than anything else.

Shimenawa made a reflexive jerk toward Kumo as though to go help him, but then glanced back toward Kakashi and hesitated, stopping to simply continue to watch the pair with a worried expression. So far, this was going, well... as close to "all right" as it was probably going to get. He wasn't sure he wanted to disrupt the mood just yet.

And... not that he really had any doubts, these days, but it felt very good to hear words like those coming out of Kumo's mouth.

_You've come a long way... _The thought made him feel, somehow, proud.

And now, someone else here was trying to take a big step of his own... Shimenawa gave an encouraging smile as Kakashi briefly looked up to meet his gaze.

The kitsune was frowning slightly, still looking skittish and a little wary, and his tail thrashed behind him on the floor like an agitated cat as he absently tugged on the hem of his sweater.

"A-- are you--"

He wasn't dead, really he wasn't, he said he wasn't and Sensei's eyes and Obito's smell said he wasn't and the Sharingan didn't see a ghost, it saw a man and -- he -- Kakashi -- could -- he could do this. He had to... he should... talk to him... or something. It was weird looking at him; Kakashi felt... completely blank, and full of everything, all at once. It took so much work to just be calm and not think about _moonlight and blood on the floor it's cold don't move your hands_ stop-- _stop it--_

...it was hard to make his brain want to do anything else, save sit there and stare.

"...Who are you?" he finished the thought finally, in a mumble, eyes drifting away from the man's face again as he spoke. "What's... your name?"

"Kubutsu Sakumo," Kumo introduced, beginning to offer Kakashi his hand before thinking better of it. It seemed like a no-sudden-movements, no-loud-noises sort of situation. "My friends call me Kumo, though. I'm twenty-seven years old, I went to high school with Sunshine here, I've been enlisted in the army since I was seventeen-- ..._whoa_. Sorry. Just realized I've been in the army for ten years. Now I kind of feel like I've burned my youth away. Anyway. I was ranked Genin at eighteen, Chuunin at twenty-two, and I gave Sunshine a heart attack last year by getting myself promoted to Jounin so I could get him that shiny promise ring he never wears, which I hear is a complete embarrassment compared to how fast _you_ climbed ranks back when. And, uh..." Kumo scratched his chin through his mask, feeling the stubble even through the cloth. Shaving wasn't all that important when no one ever saw your face, but Kumo tried to keep up. Sadly hospitals didn't have razors handy and he hadn't been able to get his hands on a scalpel while he was there.

"I dunno, kid. Is there anything specific you wanted to know?"

"...You're shinobi?" Kakashi murmured, using a term that probably sounded ancient and strange to Kumo's ears as his eyes alighted on a point somewhere around the man's ankles.

That was... good, he concluded. It would be weird if Daddy wasn't shinobi. Like it was sorta weird that Sensei wasn't Hokage even though he was alive and his face was still on the mountain and you could go see it whenever you wanted and did Sensei ever walk by it and have people go "Hey, it's the Hokage?" because, if not they were really stupid people because his picture was _right there _and did it ever bother him? The way it bothered Kakashi when he went to the memorial and couldn't find Obito's name anymore because it was too big and.

...Also couldn't find daddy's.

After a while he realized he was staring at Kumo's cast, and he blinked at it speculatively, finding he felt a little better for some reason. He wasn't quite sure what the thing was for, there were no medical seals on it or anything, but clearly it was binding a wound of some kind.

"Field injury?" he wondered with a certain professional interest.

Kumo coughed and scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes. "Uh, yeah. Pretty much." He could just about feel Shimenawa's stare of utter disapproval boring into the back of his skull. Ah, good times.

"Earth jutsu," he added, "But it was weak. Only fractured the bone in a couple places." He neglected to mention it was self-inflicted because, well, it _did_ sound rather lame when put that way.

Kakashi nodded absently, apparently satisfied by the explanation, and his gaze drifted downward toward the floor again with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Did it hurt?" he asked seriously after a moment.

"Like a bitch," Kumo nodded rather proudly, then rolled his eyes at himself. What kind of father openly swore in front of his son?

...a cool one, come to think of it.

The kitsune blinked at him for a second, and nodded. After a second he glanced down again, pausing.

He was really really... was. Here. Not just a little bit here but like... totally and completely and it was... weird. Kakashi had a daddy but he didn't have a daddy and he'd always had a daddy but not had a daddy except now he _had _a daddy which was... was different from the other way even though he couldn't really explain it.

...This was really confusing.

Tail curling up around his waist, he glanced up at Kumo, managing to meet the man's eyes for just a moment.

"...Um... I'm Hatake Kakashi," he said quietly.

"I know," Sakumo murmured with a nod, and for the split second he was saying it he actually completely meant it. He _knew_, knew like he had known all along, known everything about his little boy. Everything from Kakashi's name to how he, as Hatake Sakumo, had begged and prayed to know what to do on his way to the hospital because he was terrified out of his mind about being a dad and and had asked the gods for a sign which came in the form of tripping over a scarecrow in his haste. Everything from Kakashi's favorite foods to his hopes and dreams and fears and insecurities. Sakumo _knew_.

And then it was gone. He blinked, confused at why he had just said what he said the way he did and then shrugged with a soft sigh, figuring all those years of drugs and booze probably had something to do with it.

"You should eat, kid," he continued, nodding toward the table, "I'm new at this parenting thing, but I think I'd want you to eat even if I weren't your dad. You're all fur and bones." He wasn't sure what was weirder. Knowing he had a son from a previous life who was sitting before him, or knowing that said son occasionally had fur. And a tail. And ancient magic powers. Shaking those thoughts away, he glanced briefly up at Shimenawa with a slightly helpless 'am I totally fucking up yet?' look on his face.

Shimenawa just gave him an encouraging smile. Kakashi wasn't freaking out, running away, or trying to do anyone violence, so in the doctor's book this was all really going quite well, comparatively.

Kakashi didn't move from his spot, but he glanced hesitantly toward the food on the table and then back at Obito, looking a little conflicted about whether they should go sit down. Watching his face, Shimenawa decided that perhaps this had been enough Kumo for now; it would probably be best to acclimatize Kakashi in small doses. Knowing Kumo was somewhere in the same house with him but not dropping everything to go have a panic attack over it would be as good a place to start as any.

"Hm, he has a point," the doctor piped up cheerfully, decision made. "You two had better hurry up and eat or your curry will get cold, especially since you were running late anyway..." He blinked and stopped himself, frowning thoughtfully.

"What did you say you were doing again?"

"Uh..." Obito looked more uncomfortable all of the sudden, which was saying something considering he was looking almost stricken the moment before, "Uh, well, we got caught up... uh... doing... that thing... with the, uh... we were, uh... in the... living room? Fixing... er... the..."

Sakumo hid his laugh in his cough because, good lord he hadn't met someone quite so bad at lying since listening to his stoner friend try to explain to his mom why the room smelled like pot. What had that little white-haired pervert finally come up with? Something about it being cat mating season?

"We were kissing," Kakashi supplied helpfully, climbing to his feet. "And stuff," he added nonchalantly, expression thoughtful, as he brushed off his backside and glanced toward Obito again. Obito could only offer him a look of complete mortification and betrayal, like Kakashi had gone and rolled a boulder over him and left him to die. Only just a little bit more horrified. Because Sensei was in the room and _oh fuck Sakumo_ was in the room and... and... If he could have ever let himself live down fainting, he would have done it.

For his part, Kumo just about choked on his own laughter, deciding right then and there that he liked his boy. Good and honest, and he could count on Kakashi to let him know if the boyfriend was going to try anything funny. It wasn't as though Kumo actually believed in anything resembling abstinence, heavens no, but somehow it was different when it involved his son. He was still adjusting to the idea of having a son to begin with, but him not wanting said son to get taken advantage of was something he knew for certain. The boy was confused, a little bit lost, and a lot of out of his mind so there was no way he could know what was best for him. No, it was up to Kumo to decide what was best for his son, and he had ten years as a shinobi to back it.

Shimenawa just grinned a little and tried very hard not to think up any mental images. Whatever made them happy, right? He could deal... oh yes... totally. (And he had come to understand completely why his parents were too mortified to ever give him the birds and bees talk...)

"Well, clearly you were hard at work then," he managed to joke, though his accompanying laugh was slightly embarrassed. His smile grew more sure of itself, however, as he gestured toward their dinner laid out on the table. "Kumo and I have eaten already, so we'll leave you to it for a while, okay?"

Kakashi gave a nod in response; he looked calm enough now, but hesitated before taking another step, glancing between the table where Kumo sat and Obito behind him a little nervously. After a second, he reached over to grip Obito's hand before they went to sit down.

"Shall we move to the living room?" Shimenawa suggested to Kumo, offering a hand up for the other man. Kumo could probably use a break from Kakashi too, now that he thought about it.

"Sure, Sunshine," Kumo nodded readily, taking Shimenawa's hand and climbing to his feet, "Have fun, boys. Eat all your veggies and remember, _we're just in the next room_... if you need us for anything." The bit about them being nearby almost sounded like a threat. Which actually probably was exactly what it was.


	15. Chapter 15

Second Sight

_Chapter Fifteen_

Once they were safely in the living room, Kumo pillaged one of Shimenawa's many stashes of candy before offhandedly commenting, "You know, my memory isn't as bad as you think it is, Sunshine." He cast his old friend a sideways glance before popping a candy in his mouth, nonchalantly producing a roll of duct tape from seemingly nowhere. "Now look what I just found. Are we going to relive Freshman year or are you going to play nice with me, Sunshine?"

_...oh, right._

_Shit._

Shimenawa winced a little, trying to smile as he took a seat on the edge of the couch, glancing off toward the kitchen. The boys weren't visible from this angle, but -- well, if things got loud, they were still within earshot, and this wasn't really something he wanted them to hear...

Taking a deep breath, he stared down thoughtfully toward the coffee table for a moment. Idly he reached out to close a medical textbook he'd left lying open.

"...Kumo," he decided, "I can't really think of a way to say this that isn't going to piss you off, but well... Those history books... they'll all talk about your death." _To say nothing of Kakashi's. _"I... really don't think... all the little details of your own death are something a person needs to know or remember. If I could forget how mine felt," he said, entirely truthfully, "I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Ah," Kumo let the duct tape drop back into the drawer he'd gotten it out of, helping himself to another handful of candy shortly after, "That bad, Sunshine? You know that's not going to discourage me from wanting to find out, right? And besides, you actually remember dying. Me? Most I'll get to do is read about some guy who apparently is me kick it in a stale, dry, dusty old book. Can't be bad as you say, Sunshine. And I've been on the field ten years now. Takes an awful lot to get to me."

Inwardly, Shimenawa was groaning with frustration. The more he tried to dance around this subject, the more it was going to pique Kumo's interest. There was just no winning. But he-- he couldn't _say _it. He was almost _afraid _to say it. Like it was going to jinx them somehow... He didn't know how Kumo would react, he didn't want to screw anything up -- this was all going so nicely thus far, in relative terms, and yet if Kumo found out the real reasons behind Kakashi's sense of panic...

He still remembered pulling at nylon cord until his fingers were raw, tugging a noose out of Kumo's bedroom ceiling when they were in sophomore year and he never, ever wanted to give the other man a reason to relive it.

"...Yeah, I know. You're still tougher than me," he murmured back after a second with a small, rueful smile.

"Are you flattering me now, Sunshine?" Kumo sighed, moving over to Shimenawa's side of the room to sling his arm over his old friend's shoulder, "Alright, alright. I give, okay? Stop worrying your sweet little face over me before you give yourself wrinkles." He paused to pat Shimenawa's fluffy hair affectionately before he pressed a light ghost of a kiss over the young doctor's cheek.

"It's probably a habit for you by now," he lamented with a slight shake of his head, "and it's probably all my fault, but I'm not some dumb kid anymore, Sunshine. You don't have to save me from myself all the time anymore. But for old times' sake, I'll let this go. For now." He brushed the back of his hand against the side of Shimenawa's face then, voice dropping so quiet and faint that Shimenawa had to strain to hear.

"Maybe someday you'll trust me with my life like I trust you with it, and then you tell me what happened to me back then, okay? I love you, Sunshine."

Shimenawa couldn't help but blush a little, no matter how much he told himself that this wasn't the time, that he was misunderstanding... but when Kumo looked at him so seriously like that, talked to him... touched him... acted miles away from his usual teasing self... well, it was hard not to.

He smiled again, a small and helpless sort of smile, as he shook his head a little.

"I just... don't want to see you unhappy anymore," he murmured. Taking a deep breath, he leaned a little of his weight against Kumo's side. "I've seen more than enough of that for one lifetime."

Pausing again, he ran a hand through his hair, the quality of the little smile changing subtly.

"I'd do just about anything, you know," he said quietly.

"You're just lucky I love you too much to take advantage of you," Kumo smiled back, voice not quite teasing. He shook his head then and slipped his arm around Shimenawa's waist, holding him where he was because it felt nice. Then he breathed out a wistful sort of sigh and shook his head, shrugging.

"Don't mind me, Sunshine. And don't worry about me being unhappy. How could I go a day without smiling with a friend like you?" he laughed a little then and winked, "And they do say ignorance is bliss, don't they? The way I am around you guys, I should be orgasmic all the time."

Shimenawa couldn't help laughing a little at that, and he shook his head as they sat there, falling into a natural sort of quiet for a little while. It was... ridiculously good to have Kumo around. He didn't know anyone else who'd ever _gotten _him quite the way his old friend did.

"You need to stop running away from me for years on end, okay?" he admonished after a moment, smiling good-naturedly as he poked Kumo gently with an elbow. "I mean, I know you get busy, but you could at least call..."

He paused again for a moment, listening to the sounds of dishes clinking in the kitchen, and gave a contented sigh.

"How long you think you're going to stick around this time?" he wondered idly.

"I do it because I don't want to break your heart someday, Sunshine," Kumo shrugged, smiling a little apologetically, "Don't want something to happen to me and ruin your taste for the good things in life. But I'm spineless and selfish and I drop by when I'm in town because I can't stay away." He shrugged again and shook his head, tightening his grip on Shimenawa absently.

"I don't really have any solid plans this time," he answered after a long pause, "I mean, I plan on staying as long as I can but that's not really saying much. My leg can only stay broken for so long and you know I get claustrophobic." He stopped then, frowning to himself.

"Though you know what, Sunshine? Last time I left here, the open road and the open sky didn't thrill me like they used to," he mused, offering Shimenawa a small smile before he continued, "Looks like you finally beat them out as the love of my life."

So Kumo was still smiling, a little bit at least, but it was an awfully _thoughtful-_looking smile.

Shimenawa glanced down at the arm around his waist and felt himself flush again.

"Well, it will be nice to have you here on a regular basis again for a while," he offered with a slightly embarrassed smile. He knew Kumo liked to joke, always had since they'd been quite young, but sometimes he really, really wondered...

"You mean that, Sunshine?" Kumo sounded genuinely surprised, blinking as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean, you always complain about me bailing on you all the time but I never figured you actually wanted me to stick around. And I never blamed you, either." He was grinning again, but it was an vaguely abashed sort of grin. "I've never been much more than a waking prescription of painkillers for you. But I'm touched, Sunshine. You want me around. If I'd known that ten years back, I might've stayed put rather than run off to the army."

Even Kumo wasn't sure whether or not he was joking right now.

Shimenawa shook his head a little and sighed, and couldn't help smiling some more. He supposed Kumo just couldn't see it, no matter how many times he was told. He painfully resembled Kakashi in that way, really: so convinced of his own lack of worth that he couldn't comprehend its existence even when it was directly pointed out to him. Shimenawa found himself wondering for a moment if Hatake Sakumo had been the same. Back when they were younger he'd hoped letting Kumo go without a protest, stepping back and getting out of his way as he joined the army and went off gallivanting around the world, would be a help of some kind; would help him find something to do with himself, a reason to keep going, a change from the stifling sameness of his hometown that served only to remind him of his family and his misspent youth... Kumo had thrived just as much as Shimenawa had hoped for, but some things, he supposed, were just rooted too deep. On that particular point, Kakashi had never really listened to him either.

Maybe Kumo would've preferred it that way, if he could have known his friend's thoughts. He was always saying Shimenawa couldn't save everybody all the time. But Shimenawa didn't need to save everybody. If he could just look after these three... that was all he really needed, he thought.

"Why would I keep saying it to you if I didn't mean it?" he replied humorously, shaking his head some more. "I'm not that kind of guy." He paused a second longer, sighing as his ever-present smile turned a little more serious.

"Of course I want you around, jerk." He gave Kumo another poke in the ribs for good measure. "You're my best friend. You're practically family."

This conversation had taken a very weird turn, it felt like. He was pretty sure it had been years since the last time they'd had a talk like this. Kumo usually shied away from too much discussion of emotions, but, well... suddenly finding out you were the reincarnation of an ancient ninja with a kitsune for a son would put anyone into a philosophical mood, Shimenawa supposed.

"Only practically?" Kumo laughed lightly and decided the time for seriousness was over. He leaned back against the wall for support and brought his arm behind Shimenawa's knees, literally sweeping him off his feet. Lucky for Kumo that he'd been in the army so long and that Shimenawa weighed about as much as a twelve year old.

"I guess I'll just have to keep proposing until you accept then, Sunshine. Because being practically family isn't good enough for me." He paused to shift Shimenawa's negligible weight in his arms, grinning as he continued. "You're kind of like a father figure to Kakashi, aren't you? Well I'm his dad! Obviously this is a sign from the gods that we need to be a happy yet dysfunctional but legally bound family together."

"Ack-- put me down! You don't need to be straining yourself with your leg all messed up..." Shimenawa laughed despite himself. "And you know, I don't seem to recall any of these _other _proposals I've supposedly gotten from you. All I have to say is, _I _won't be the one wearing the dress at our lavish-yet-tasteful tropical island wedding."

"Sunshine, I'd wear a dress for you and I'd let you take pictures, too," Kumo laughed back, "But I still carry you over the threshold to our honeymoon suite, okay? Fair's fair. Now does it have to be in the tropics? Because you know I burn like there's no tomorrow. How about we have it in Water country? It's an island and I hear the locals are nice as long as you steer clear of their whacked out ninja village."

"Aww, but it rains there all the time." Shimenawa was grinning. "Horrible for wedding pictures."

Nudging Kumo to let him go, he settled back down into his seat, expression sobering just a little as he thought on the subject they'd just been joking about... well, as far as he knew.

Maybe... maybe he should just ask. Despite the other man's seeming seriousness lately... it wouldn't be the first time that Kumo had joked with him outrageously, after all. It would be nice to be able to just enjoy their banter without all this awkward uncertainty.

"Kumo... can I ask a stupid question?" he inquired, looking good-naturedly embarrassed as he scratched at his head a little.

"Sunshine, you've let me ask you why the hell the sky is blue and whether or not fish can blink and shit like that all through high school and you always answered," Kumo nodded with an easy smile, "You can ask me anything you want."

Shimenawa gave another quiet laugh, and scratched at his head some more, and smiled awkwardly.

"Well... that is..." He paused. "You're... not serious, right? I mean... I'm not trying to imply anything... just," god, this was coming out all wrong. He could feel himself getting red again, "your teasing gets so intense sometimes it makes me wonder a little. You have a good poker face," he concluded abashedly.

It was Kumo's turn to cringe and go '_oh, shit_' in his head and he did exactly that, turning from Shimenawa a little. How was he supposed to answer that? Joke it off, let it pass? That'd... that was lying to Shimenawa, and that would pretty much seal his fate to be Shimenawa's best friend and blood brother for the rest of his life. But to answer and tell the truth, oh god. That was terrifying, it was... what else could he do? He could do what Kubutsu Kumo did best, of course! Run away! Or, rather, simply not answer and hope that the sky would fall or the earth would open up and distract Shimenawa from his questions. And so that's what he did, digging his toe into the ground and a whole lot of not answering.

'_Damnit, Kumo! You're the stupid one, not him! He's going to catch on and you're going to look like a jackass. A jackass with no spine or balls.'_

"...Kumo?"

Shimenawa frowned a little, half-concerned about the lack of response, and half wondering if... this was his answer?

If Kumo... really... actually...

...well...

_oh._

He could feel his face getting a little warmer. It was true he'd half thought that... maybe... and yet, somehow it didn't seem possible, it was just the way Kumo was, it didn't mean...

Well, Shimenawa had certainly just stepped in it, hadn't he.

"Kumo... I didn't..." He trailed off into a mumble, suddenly feeling very unsure of himself.

"Didn't what?" Kumo mumbled back, then actually kicked himself for answering because silence was supposed to be the plan. That lead to him yelping in his self-inflicted pain shortly before he toppled over. He sat there after, frowning at himself. So elegant, Kumo. So graceful and dignified. Why was he still alive?

Shimenawa hopped down to help him right himself, and they sat there together on the floor next to the couch for a moment, the blonde wearing a troubled frown as he glanced away. He wished his face would stop feeling so hot. But every time he thought back to Kumo picking him up... touching him like that...

"If you're not willing to answer me... does that mean I'm wrong...?" he murmured with a furrowed brow as he turned to meet Kumo's gaze again, all the other questions going unsaid. That look was what made Kumo melt, made his breath catch in his throat and his mouth feel very dry.

'_Oh no, Sunshine. Don't give me that look. Don't use that voice on me. I can't..._'

It made his heart ache, it really did. To hear Shimenawa come to that conclusion by himself and sound so broken up over it. How was he supposed to stay silent and let Shimenawa feel that way? He couldn't do it, couldn't let his Sunshine figure things out and not get to know what Shimenawa thought in return. He couldn't avoid it forever, or maybe he could and then... Telling seemed a lot less scary than never knowing right then and he sighed, closing his eyes briefly to compose himself before he met Shimenawa's gaze again.

"...you're cute when you blush, Sunshine," he began, softly, leaning in to touch the back of his hand against Shimenawa's cheek, "I'm... well, maybe I was wrong and I am just still a dumb kid who never... never really knows how to say his feelings right. So I joke and I tease and I never really have the balls to... be real with you." He drew his hand back and closed his eyes, doing his very best not to get sick to his stomach because _man_ did this kill his nerves. Facing a firing squad was sounding peachy in comparison.

"Yeah, I've meant it, Sunshine," he finally sighed out, shaking his head, "Every word since I was sixteen. Does that... weird you out or anything?"

For a second, Shimenawa could only stare at him.

Then he found his voice again, and laughed a little and reached up to run a hand over his eyes, which for some reason felt the faintest little bit wet at the corners.

"Well, you could have mentioned that part at least once so I wouldn't feel so damn silly now," he concluded with a helpless grin, shaking his head. Suddenly the world felt turned upside-down all over again. His best friend had been in love with him for this many years... and teased him to death about it and yet...

"I'm sorry, I guess I've been a horrible dunce," the young doctor said with an abashed laugh.

"Don't be sorry, Sunshine. I would've come clean with you if I weren't such a hopeless coward," Kumo shrugged, slipping his hand into Shimenawa's and holding on tightly, "Don't worry about it. Nothing has to change, Sunshine. I like you just the way you are, whatever that happens to be."

Shimenawa looked down at the carpet thoughtfully, thumb idly stroking the backs of Kumo's fingers. "Well, I have to admit..." he murmured, pausing. "It's not something I've given thought to more than once or twice, even with how we always joke about it... but.."

After a second, the doctor smirked a little. "...Somehow the idea doesn't feel weird. You seem to have broken me in."

"You make it sound so..." Kumo managed a smile as well, wrinkling his nose slightly, "..._wrong_, Sunshine." The light tease was back in his voice, but it was half-hearted.

"I guess it's as wrong as your mind wants to make it," offered Shimenawa, laughing. As his mirth died down, he quieted for a moment, leaning his head against Kumo's shoulder again. His expression turned a little wistful.

"...I don't know, I guess. This is all really sudden, but..."

He tried to think about it. Kumo's smile. His body. Those beautiful eyes, the lithe way he moved, as graceful as any ninja of old. His very silly personality. His loyalty. His sweetness. His stubbornness. His silly little quirks. The warmth of his nearby presence crashed in Shimenawa's bed.

...The further he went the more he began to wonder why the hell nothing like this had ever occurred to him before. And yet... it still didn't _quite _fit because really... he had every dimension covered, save the physical. He'd always thought of Kumo as beautiful, but beyond that supposed nothing had ever really crossed his mind... he was just so used to thinking of Kumo as someone who Didn't Count in the area of relationships that it had never quite occurred to him. Not that Shimenawa was any kind of genius in that area, or had really ever paid much attention at all... Hell, he hadn't had a date since med school...

He wondered what kissing Kumo would be like.

"I dunno," he murmured again a little abashedly, looking down at their joined hands with a small smile. "What... do you want to do? Really? Of course I like things fine the way they are, but..." He stopped and scratched at his blonde head a little, feeling rather sheepish. "And this is... pretty sudden, but... well... if you wanted to... I think..." Ugh, what was he saying? He wanted to take back the words as soon as they left his mouth. He suspected there was really no possible way to do this without feeling awkward.

"...I think I could give it a try," he finished quietly.

"Don't give anything a try unless you're sure you can live with it." Kumo shook his head, giving Shimenawa's hand a squeeze. "Didn't you tell me that once, Sunshine? Granted, that was to get me to stop trying out random drugs, but I'd like to think I'm rather addictive." He laughed a little then, but he didn't sound happy. He didn't sound sad either, but it was a quiet, longing sort of laugh. It was a lonely sort of laugh. He leaned his head against Shimenawa's, bringing his other hand to clasped over their joined ones.

"I don't want to lose you," he breathed the words out because they were meant for Shimenawa alone, because he wanted Shimenawa to know that they were for his ears only, "You're everything to me, everything about my entirely misguided life in all its squandered youth and directionless future that I find worth sticking around for. And I've kept joking and teasing and not committing to anything all these years because I've wanted to be with you, but not so badly that I'd risk our friendship over it. Like I said, I like you just the way you are." He paused to cup Shimenawa's cheek, stroking the soft skin there lightly with his thumb.

"...that all said, I'm already sure you're what I want," he murmured, smiling again, "I don't want to grow old. I ever tell you that? The idea of being old terrifies me. I want to go down in the line of service when I hit thirty in something really big and earn my place in the history books, but I'd let myself get old and useless and let time forget me if it meant getting to spend more time with you."

It occurred to Shimenawa that it was very possible there was no one in the entire world who knew this man better than he did. He'd seen Kumo at his best, at his worst; when he was goofing around and when he was deadly serious... he'd seen Kumo curled up under his bedsheets shivering from withdrawal; he'd seen Kumo throwing water balloons in his face before running away like a madman. He'd seen Kumo pick fights, get himself bloodied; he'd seen Kumo be... unbearably gentle.

Kind of like he was being now.

It was true that this felt strange and sudden, and a part of Shimenawa wondered if he shouldn't tell the other man he was going to think about it for a week just on the principle of the thing. But... even if he'd never seriously thought about it being _this _kind of love before, he _did _love Kumo -- loved him as a part of the family, couldn't imagine a life completely without him -- and to find out just how strong the emotions were that the other man felt for him... how could he _not _try to answer those feelings?

"In that case..."

He leaned over and hesitated a moment, and at last, touched his lips, feather-light, to Kumo's cheek.

"Stay?" he murmured as he pulled back, faintly smiling, his breath brushing against the other man's skin.

For a moment, Kumo only stared at him, dazed and caught off-guard, distractedly touching the place on his cheek where Shimenawa's lips had been. Then he smiled and laughed a little bit in disbelief, pulling Shimenawa into his arms. He sniffed in a way that tried to salvage his masculinity at least a little bit, burying his face against his best friend's shoulder. It was some time before he was able to answer.

"Of course, Sunshine," he whispered once he could, "As long as you want me to, and I won't even cheat on you with the bus station this time." He felt a little dizzy still, a little bit overwhelmed that his thirteen, fourteen year old secret (however ill kept) was gone. The world felt a little bit lighter on his shoulders, and... and Shimenawa had just kissed him on the cheek, and not the way you kissed relatives or best friends on the cheek. Kumo could almost forgive himself for wanting to cry like a little girl.

Shimenawa just hugged Kumo tight, rubbing circles on his back, and reflected on that beautiful, incredulous smile. Kumo had claimed he didn't smile quite right anymore, but he himself, Shimenawa decided, felt much the same right now. He would have to make sure and see to it that Kumo smiled like that more often.

"Good to hear. I've missed you," he murmured, leaning his cheek against Kumo's hair and feeling oddly content.

"Missed you too, Sunshine," Kumo laughed quietly, shaking his head against Shimenawa's neck, "Guess I can't go back to the army anymore now. I'd never be able to move on if I broke your heart. Ahh, well, that's being married for you. No more bunking with dozens of half naked men. No more communal showers. I hope that tells you how much you mean to me, Sunshine." He grinned at that, giving Shimenawa a nuzzle. Seriousness could only stay so long for Kumo, even in situations like this.

"Hm... I guess you'll have to find something else to do with yourself once you get off medical leave." Shimenawa considered mentioning he'd been thinking his office could use a secretary, and then tried to picture Kumo doing that job, and had to laugh quietly as he thought better of it.

And then all of a sudden, it occurred to him that aside from themselves, it was dead silent in the house. He glanced back toward the kitchen; but of course he couldn't actually see inside from where they were sitting...

"Hm... is it just me, or did it get really quiet in here...?" he murmured, frowning.

"Hm?" Kumo blinked, craning his neck as well as he tried to look into the kitchen as well. He'd stopped paying attention to the sounds of chopsticks scraping plates some time ago and hadn't noticed when or even that they'd stopped, but now that Shimenawa had pointed it out, it _was_ awfully quiet in the house. Too quiet, actually, to possibly have two boys still hanging around. Mostly unwillingly, he untangled himself from Shimenawa to check it out because, well, he had to start trying to be a decent dad _sometime._

"Uh... Sunshine, the boys bailed on us," he reported from the doorway to the kitchen, "Must've left in a hurry because they didn't do the dishes. I... actually think they might've taken the dishes with them. And the rest of the curry."

"Huh?"

Surprised, Shimenawa rose to follow the other man back over to the kitchen. Sure enough, the chairs were pushed back, the boys were gone, and the table was empty. Someone seemed to have drunk half the jug of tea he'd left sitting on the counter. And the pot of curry was most definitely missing.

He frowned slightly, not quite sure why they would just run off. "I wonder what..."

Then his eyes alighted on a little yellow sticky note slapped against the front of the fridge. He went over to pull it off.

_Don't worry, we just went home, _it read in Obito's messy handwriting. _Make sure to use a condom._

He went a little red again.

"Guess they noticed us," the doctor concluded with an abashed sort of laugh.

-----

Meanwhile, back in their apartment, Kakashi and Obito were unpacking like the bandits they were. Half eaten dishes, half a container of tea, pot of curry on the stove to reheat.

"Oh I can't believe I _heard_ that," Obito was whining at his plate, peering over the edge of it with his chin resting on the table, "I can't believe they were _doing_ that. Oh god, Sensei's going to shack up with your dad, Kakashi. _Oh god_. Sensei. And _your dad_." He held his stomach and let himself fall out of his seat, rolling about on the kitchen floor.

"This is as bad as the time as my dad had sex in the living room right as I was coming home from my first day of middle school. No, this is _worse_. 'cause it's Sensei and your dad and oh gross," Obito continued to whimper, now clamping his hands over his eyes like he could block the images out.

Kakashi blinked down at the other boy, frowning a little at his unusual behavior, and slipped out of his seat to curl up next to Obito on the floor. Those were... notgood noises and he didn't really get what was so awful, but every time he heard the words 'your dad' he could feel a twinge somewhere around an arterial vein in his left ventricle, so he thought maybe that was what was bothering Obito too.

But... Sensei had sounded very happy.

"Then, um... don't watch?" he suggested with a blink, feeling somewhat at a loss as he laid his head down next to Obito's, expression curious and a little confused as his tail twitched around their legs.

"Won't help. The mental images are burned into my brain. I'll carry them with me to my grave," Obito sniffed in a fit of melodramatics, wrapping his arms around Kakashi protectively, "I just need... ummm... a distraction, yeah. I need a distraction." Obito gave Kakashi a sideways look and tried not to look suspicious, which naturally only had the opposite effect.

"I... did promise you something if we came back right away, didn't I?" he began slowly, trying not to grin because he imagined it might turn into a grimace given what he had just witnessed, but he was a hormonal little eighteen year old and certain things made him want to grin like an idiot. This was one of them.

"Want to, uh, y'know, uhm..." he trailed off, then decided words took too long and simply kissed Kakashi, playfully slipping his hand under the other boy's shirt. "Can't let those old timers beat us to third base now can we?"

Kakashi beamed at him for a second and, in the way of a response, leaned in close to kiss him again.


	16. Chapter 16

Second Sight

_Chapter Sixteen_

November passed by in a blur of snow, falling leaves and general merriment, and before they knew it, had given way to December. It was a hard sort of cold outside, the grey sky obscured by gathering clouds, a faint rumble in the distance that spoke of threatening storms.

It had been Obito's turn to shop that morning, and the boy was exceptionally lazy when it came to some things. Unwilling to trek all the way into town in three or so feet of snow, he made for the little corner store a few streets down. He hadn't realized at the time that it would take him right outside his old house. He was passing a narrow alley when he heard someone shift, heard the snow crunch as someone came up behind him. By the time he turned, all he saw was a stained, yellowed t-shirt and the whiskey bottle that knocked him out.

Obito was hurting when he woke again. He hurt so badly that he was beginning to go numb in places. He fell face-first into the snow when he tried to get up, his legs rubbery and burning and refusing to support him. He realized he was somewhere different, somewhere far away from the city. He was in the forests, and there was bright blood seeping into the snow. It was pink. It was all pink and splotches of red. It was _his_ blood.

He had to go, he realized, had to get away. He couldn't stand so he crawled along the forest floor. Thorns and slivers of wood and sharp rocks and ice bit into his palms as he dragged himself forward and his hands were beginning to feel slick with blood, beginning to go numb like everything else. His tears collected beads of sweat and streaks of dirt as the streamed down his face. He couldn't catch his breath, couldn't move fast enough. There were footsteps behind him. Heavy, clumsy, getting closer.

His legs hurt, his ankles hurt. When he looked back he saw that there were cuts on the backs of his ankles, shallow ones and deep ones. The knife had been dull, so it must have taken a couple of tries. He barely had the strength to push himself up anymore, but he had to keep going. He had to get away, or... or... A muddy boot pressed into his back and forced him down, his trembling arms giving out. The air reeked of blood and smoke, dank forest and cheap whiskey. Obito's cheek hit the frozen forest floor, scraping against a protruding root.

"Run away from me, boy?" the sorry excuse for a man who called himself Obito's father slurred, digging his heel into Obito's spine. The boy whimpered and tried to pull himself up, but his father only pressed down harder. He broke off into a fit of wet, wheezing coughing.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," he whimpered, six years old again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry please don't put me in the closet again. It's dark and cold and there are spiders and they bite me and... I won't run away again Daddy, I promise."

"You know what you did to me, you sorry son of a bitch?" his father growled, barely even listening to his son. He backhanded Obito, hard enough to make the boy's head snap to the side and Obito nearly whited out. "You left me without a goddamned word and I got evicted! They took my shit away! I'm almost forty years old and I got nothing! Nothing but a sorry son of a bitch for a kid! You ruined my life! I don't have any goddamned money or any goddamned place to sleep and I'm on my last bottle of whiskey! I'm in _debt_, boy! Lost my money playing poker trying to make rent money after you left and now they're after my ass! Well I'm just going to give them yours. God, I don't know why I ever let your mother leave you with me. I should've told her to take you with her when she ran her car off that bridge."

The heel lifted and Obito tried to get up, sobbing even as he tried to wipe away his tears so he could see the next blow coming. He didn't hand still at his stinging eyes when his father kicked him in the stomach, so hard that Obito fell back and hit his head against the trunk of a tree. The world spiraled around him and he felt dizzy, nauseous. His dad's words sounded very far away suddenly.

"Are you listening to me, boy?" his father demanded. He was still shouting, but Obito had to strain to hear. Slowly, he gave in and let his eyes close.

"...I'm sorry, Daddy," he mumbled one more time, tears slipping out the corners of his eyes. Then the world went silent.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was sitting in a very empty apartment.

They'd spent a mostly-uneventful morning in each other's company; he had been happy to just sit around and watch Obito watching stupid movies on TV, and make _real _hot chocolate, with milk and cocoa and not the gross mixy kind, and then spill hot chocolate but at least it had missed his clothes and his tail, and then remember they didn't really have any food. Which was very disappointing because cookies went best with hot chocolate and also Kakashi wanted something for lunch.

But Obito had said he would be right back, and that was three hours ago. Three hours, in Kakashi's opinion, did not really count as being _right back. _It was more of a 'be back later' or perhaps a 'this is going to take forever, don't wait around for me'. Especially since he only went to the little store down the street and not the big one...

...three hours was an _awfully _long time.

Had... maybe something had happened? Kakashi frowned down at his feet from where he was curled up on the couch, hands gripping the fabric of his sweater very tight. Maybe... maybe Obito was... hurt. Maybe he'd been kidnapped or raped or robbed or stabbed or somebody made him swallow glass or poked out his eyeballs or maybe his heart stopped or maybe he was lost in an interdimensional pocket _right now_

but -- Kakashi could still feel him -- the tomoe of the Sharingan spun wildly as he whipped his head around, trying to cast about for that bright, flame-orange soul. It was still there -- somewhere someway -- he could still _see--_

He could see it flickering a little.

Suddenly feeling frantic, Kakashi sprung up from his seat, shed his boyshape, and dashed on all four paws out of the house.

It didn't take him long to zero in; after he'd followed the glow of Obito's soul for a long enough span he came to a point where he could clearly smell blood.

_ohgodohgodohgodI'mtoolateI'mnottoolateamI_

He. Couldn't. Do this again.

Heart beating like a drum against his chest, the second he could see the two figures among the trees ahead he translocated straight between them, popping into being atop a mass of twigs and leaves and melting snow and Obito's blood. Obito was -- _was--_

He looked back.__

...Breathing.

And the man in front of him...

Kakashi looked forward. He looked at Obito's father, Obito's father's bloodspattered shirt, Obito's father's bottle of booze.

"What the _hell_?" the older man swore, blinking his bloodshot eyes at the-- the-- what was that _thing? _He'd sworn it was an animal but then it was this boy with white hair and _where the fuck had it come from anyway_? Obito's father blinked again, trying to decide whether or not he was seeing things. "...you get out of here," he finally growled, too drunk to try to think things through, waving his bottle around, "That boy's mine. Now get before you get yourself in a mess too."

Kakashi simply looked at him, with an appraising, expressionless gaze, standing there barefoot in the snow, not noticing the cold or much of anything save the man standing in front of him.

He cocked his head slightly to one side.

"Oh, yeah. I owed you already," the kitsune murmured and--

He was on Matsudaira before the man had any time to scream.

Obito was walking the line between consciousness and unconsciousness, feeling almost removed from himself as he heard strange... _noises_ but couldn't open his eyes or move anything. That was his father's voice making sounds he'd never heard his father make before, and wet, squelching sounds like... like the butcher's. What was going on...? He had to open his eyes, had to see, had to know if his dad was going to be angry with him.

"...Daddy?" he whispered in a terrified sort of squeak when he finally managed to open his eyes a slit. The snow was blindingly bright, white and red and white and red and sparkling.

Then the light faded a little as Kakashi leaned over him. He was white and red like the snow, with his hair and his tail whipping around and the blood soaking his sleeves and his shirt front--

"Obito?" the kitsune murmured, looking very sad somehow as he knelt down close to the other boy's face. "We're... we're going home, okay? We'll go see Sensei..."

Heedless of the gore coating his hands, he wedged them underneath Obito's battered body to pull the taller boy into his arms.

"N-no," Obito whimpered, trying to lift his head but everything felt so heavy... well, not everything. Some things he couldn't feel at all. Like his feet. Where were his feet? "Daddy's so mad, I can't-- I have to..." Obito felt light-headed as Kakashi pulled him up, light-headed and dizzy and there was blinding white pressed against his eyelids and then he was gone again.

Kakashi clutched Obito tight against his chest as he closed his own eyes, and took them away.

- - -

It was quiet when they popped into being in the foyer of Shimenawa's house, save for the TV going in the next room and the howl of the wind outside. Kakashi took a step and found himself stumbling slightly under Obito's weight, and stood there with his balance wobbling slightly and called for Shimenawa -- "S--_Sensei..._!" he shouted, feeling really, really stupid. Why hadn't he done this _first, _he should've -- he should've -- he didn't even care if it wasn't Sensei as long as it was _somebody _because he didn't know what to do by himself, he couldn't _think _and he looked down at the blood _oh god _and suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick.

"...Sensei? Ku... Kumo...!?"

The happy married couple had been curled up in front of the TV with Kumo trying to show Shimenawa the virtues of zombie cult movies when Kakashi called out for them. There was a note of panic in the other's voice that was new to Kumo but alarmingly familiar to Shimenawa. Either way, the two of them left the hapless side characters on the TV to have their brains eaten out to see what was going on.

"Kakashi?" Kumo blinked as they turned the corner. He stopped. He could practically feel the other man going limp next to him and instinctively, he reached out to grip Shimenawa's arm to hold him steady, taking a deep breath before switching tracks into mission mode. Things were easier if he treated them like business and soaked it all in once the crisis was over. But oh god, even for an army man like him, that was a _lot_ of blood for two little boys.

"Obito's hurt worse, Sunshine. You do what you can for him and I'll take Kakashi into the other room, okay?" he whispered softly, rubbing the young doctor's arm in a reassuring fashion, "It'll be okay."

Shimenawa swallowed, taking a deep breath and nodding once, visibly pulling together his self-control. "Of course."

Kumo offered him a tight smile for another moment before turning his attention back toward the boys. He moved cautiously forward, holding his arms out to Kakashi.

"Hey, kiddo," he began, not terribly good at handling the kid yet but he was trying, "Are you hurt anywhere? Why don't you give Obito to Sensei here and he'll fix him up for you and we can go in the bathroom and get you cleaned and patched up?"

"'M fine," Kakashi mumbled, looking down at the floor as he stepped up out of the genkan into the house proper, gripping Obito's unconscious form tightly with slightly trembling arms. "It's not mine..."

He looked up at Shimenawa as he carefully stepped closer, swallowing against a sudden tightness in his throat, eyes burning. This couldn't -- _it can't--_

"Sensei... His dad..." Kakashi looked down at Obito and back up again and... and didn't know what to say and Obito was bleeding on him just like Obito's dad had bled on him when his claws tore the man's windpipe and opened up his stomach--

Kakashi's arms were shaking; he couldn't hold on very much longer.

"...Fix him?" the boy begged.

"Yeah, we will, Kakashi," Kumo reassured before he took Obito from Kakashi's arms, holding the boy carefully as he did a visual inventory of Obito's wounds. His eyes widened.

"What kind of sick bastard slashes a kid's Achilles tendon?" he muttered, voice low and almost murderous. Seemed he shared Kakashi's sentiments on what to do with Obito's father. He tenderly handed the kid over to the doctor. Cradling Obito's head carefully against his chest, Shimenawa took another deep breath and turned off in the direction of his office. He wasn't sure his talents with medical jutsu were going to be entirely sufficient for this.

Kakashi watched them go with a rather helplessly terrified expression, seeming to slump a little as Obito's weight was taken out of his hands.

Now that he thought about it, Kumo came to the abrupt realization that he was _really bad_ with the job he had assigned himself. No worse than he would have been trying to work a medical jutsu, but still train wreck-like enough. He sighed, shaking his head. This was what he had come back for, after all. It was what he had signed up for. No different than joining the army. You steeled your nerves, your guts, and you did the best you could, then waited to see if you would make it.

"Kakashi?" he asked, casually stepping in the kitsune's line of vision so he couldn't see Obito or Shimenawa anymore, "Are you with me? We should go get you cleaned up, okay?" He gave Kakashi a once-over and realized that there was something familiarly amiss with the blood patterns on the boy's clothes. It was all spatter. None of it belonged to Kakashi, and unless Kakashi had been the one hurting Obito, a thought which Kumo didn't even humor for all of a second because Kakashi wasn't that kind of crazy, that blood belonged to a third party.

"...kid, be honest with me," he began slowly, taking Kakashi's hand, "Is there a mess that needs cleaning up? Your old man'll do it for you, but you have to tell me where to go." Kumo was good at disappearing bodies. He was good at disappearing bodies and he couldn't believe he'd just called himself old.

Kakashi blinked, and his gaze drifted downward away from Kumo's face to stare at the floor some more. _Cleaning up... _what was he... oh.

Slowly, he shook his head.

"They'll do it," he mumbled back, feeling a little dizzy as the adrenaline began to wear off. The kitsune took care of their own and they weren't really picky eaters... they'd magic away the blood he'd spilt and consume the intestines he'd torn out, and the withered old liver and the bits of skin and fingers and eyeballs while the man looked at him and opened up his mouth and nothing would come out

...he still felt sick.

He swallowed against the bile with a swollen throat, and shook a little and thought about hiding in the bathroom.

"They...?" Kumo began, but decided not to press the issue. His poor baby wasn't looking too hot. He drew in a deep breath and sighed it out again with a firm nod to himself.

"Alright, kid, let's go." Deciding risking his life was worth it, he reached out and picked Kakashi up, half slinging him over one shoulder. "It's bath time. I'm sure my former-life counterpart bathed you as a child, so let's go reminisce, swap stories, and get you cleaned up and fluffy again, okay? Because Sunshine's going to fix your boy up and he'll want you to be fluffy when he comes to. Here we go." He marched them over to the bathroom, closing the door behind them with a nudge of his hip before he set Kakashi down again.

"You know what I think? I think we're overdue for father-son bonding. Let's start right now," he smiled rather obliviously because he was trying to get Kakashi's mind off things, "You're my son and I should know how you like your baths, but I don't. So why don't you fill me in? How warm do you like your water? Bubbles? Yes? No? Do you like those little bath pearl things? Because I love those and I've got a couple dozen stashed away under the sink."

Kakashi just blinked at him for a few seconds, not really registering what the man was saying. Baths...? Something about... they were... where was... where was Obito he was bleeding on Sensei just like he bled on Kakashi and ohgodhewasgoing. to.

...Baths. What... what was the man saying. He couldn't...

"Um..." What was he saying...he was supposed to... right. The question.

"...Bubbles are good," he managed to offer quietly.

"Yeah? Alright, then," Kumo nodded, drawing the bath for Kakashi with warm leaning on hot water because it looked awfully frosty outside and a generous amount of bubble bath soap. Bubbles _were_ good. They'd spare Kumo's sanity by preventing him from getting an eyeful of someone who happened to look almost exactly like him, give or take a few details.

"If you take off your clothes and climb in, I'll go wash them in the sink. And don't worry too much about the big mouth, okay?" 'Big mouth' was Kumo's nickname of the week for Obito. He hadn't settled on a permanent one for him get. "Sunshine's a good doctor. He'll make him better than new. Maybe he'll make a few improvements while he's at it." Kumo patted Kakashi's shoulder with one slightly damp hand.

"He's going to be fine and he's going to wake up and ask for you and you're going to be right there, all clean and dry and in freshly laundered clothes..." he paused for a thoughtful second, "...or maybe naked if he'd prefer that. Normally I'd be against that sort of thing, but the kid's had a rough day and deserves a break."

Kakashi didn't wrestle with the effort of trying to respond, but simply rose from where Kumo had set him and went about stripping off his shirt with clumsy, red-stained fingers. He fumbled on the belt holding up his pants for a minute before he managed to get it off, mind still largely elsewhere, and wiggled his blood-soaked tail out of the slit cut in the back before he stepped out of them to kick them off to one side. He looked up at -- the man -- Kumo who was Sakumo who was Daddy who he needed to _don't move your hands or they'll all come out they've all come out already you just ripped them out of that fat belly with your own two_

He whimpered a little and suddenly wasn't quite sure whether he'd killed his daddy or Obito's dad had killed himself, or, he, stop, he didn't know, stop it, he couldn't concentrate, where was Obito oh god

...Bubbles. Stop it. He couldn't. This wasn't -- he couldn't help anyone like this sitting around being stupid and thinking about stupid stuff.

...Maybe he should make himself throw up. He stood there and stared at the floor and gave it some serious consideration.

"Kid?" Kumo looked worried, because he was fully aware he wasn't the best candidate to be calming Kakashi down but Shimenawa was the only one who could patch up Obito and _oh fuck_ he was all alone with the kid. He didn't know how to _fix_ things. People sent him out to _break_ things and he was good at it, but put things back together?

"Kakashi? You still with me? What's wrong?" He had a friend, a really nice (okay, less nice, more completely scary--she was ripped like Jesus and owned huge fucking dogs) lady who'd had a kid just before she got out of high school and gave it up right then and there. Last he heard, the kid was in her early teens now... eleven? twelve? and she'd found the kid again to try to have her in her life now that everything was more settled. The way he heard it, the first few weeks had been awkward as all hell.

'There's a little stranger wearing your face and you know she belongs to you but you don't have any memories of her so it's like... empty. You feel empty, because you look at her and you think those memories should be there.'

That was kind of how Kumo thought of Kakashi to save himself this past-life, present-life headache. He thought of Kakashi as a kid he'd had and left and found again. And Tsume was right. It did feel empty and sometimes Kumo forgot there were a few thousand years of psychological abuse in Kakashi to account for. One of these days, he needed to call Tsume and tell her he'd _completely_ trumped her in the fucking up his kid department.

Kakashi looked up at the sound of his own name, a little bit of reality coming back to him; he swallowed, shook his head a little, arms curling reflexively around his naked torso.

"Can't... think right..." he mumbled, trying to force out coherent words, trying to focus on _now _instead of... instead of

--Bubbles. Were good. The man -- daddy -- Kumo, _Kumo, _he looked up at him, tried to focus all his attention on what the man was saying, tried to keep the badstuff at bay.

"I know, Kakashi," Kumo sighed a little bit wearily, giving the boy's hair a light ruffle that was nowhere near as deadly as Shimenawa's, "I know it's hard. But it'll get better, I promise." He held out his hand for Kakashi, nodding toward the mostly full tub.

"Care to climb in yet?" he asked gently, hoping to any and all gods that Shimenawa would finish patching up the kid soon and get Kakashi away from him before he gave the poor boy a psychotic break. But Obito had looked to be in pretty bad shape, so who knew how long it would take? He turned his gaze back on Kakashi and inwardly grimaced. They weren't ready for this yet, they really weren't, but circumstances wouldn't let them be.

Kakashi looked over at the bath for a second, and gave a shaky nod before moving to step into the soapy, sweet-scented bathwater. He sunk down with the water level rising to his chest, looked underneath the bubbles to where his hands rested, a distorted mass of dark dried red blotches made hazy by the soap. For a moment he just sat there, trying not to think about anything at all, idly rubbing flecks of blood off one arm with his thumb.

He could do this. He... he _could._

Kumo picked up Kakashi's clothes, watching the boy out of the corner of his eyes to make sure he didn't try to do anything silly like drown himself. (Kumo had tried that once. Didn't really work out.)

"I'm right here if you need anything, kid," he called as he made his way to the sink to wash the soiled clothing as he had promised. Washing blood out with bar soap. Well, at least it was fresh blood and Kumo had done it before. It wouldn't be easy or fast, but he'd get there. His thoughts began to drift as he started the repetitive task of scrubbing the clothes clean.

He felt a little guilty, he decided. For wishing Shimenawa would come and save him from Kakashi or Kakashi from him, because he'd promised to stay and be there for his Sunshine, be there and lighten his burdens and all that and here he was, trying to bail again. He wondered sometimes if his fickleness would ever leave him, if he could change, or it was just a fundamental part of who he was. It had only been a couple weeks, yeah, but he'd been trying so hard to change and he still found himself glancing in the direction of the train station. Why couldn't he stop running? He had Shimenawa now, after all. Nothing had really changed between them except they touched more, kissed occasionally. One night Kumo had managed to find the nerve to slip his arm around Shimenawa while they were in bed. (Why was everything harder when they weren't pretending anymore?) Still, Shimenawa knew and... this was everything he wanted out of the entire, vast world. Why couldn't he settle down?

He looked down at the shirt he was washing, at the pale pink it had turned with little rings of red where the blood had begun to dry. Everything here was ten different kinds of fucked up, but they needed him. He'd keep working on it. He'd try to make things work with Kakashi without worrying Shimenawa over it. He sighed and kept washing, keeping an eye on Kakashi through the mirror now. Things would be okay. If only he could figure out what about him terrified Kakashi so much. Being a wreck around your father because he died on you was one thing, but that was sadness and betrayal and anger. This was _fear_. Why was Kakashi so afraid of him? He'd try to ask Shimenawa again when things were better.

Bit by bit, the blood was washed away for the both of them.


	17. Chapter 17

Second Sight

_Chapter Seventeen_

Meanwhile, several rooms away, Obito was laid out on the exam table in Shimenawa's office and the doctor himself was plopping exhaustedly into one of the waiting chairs. Even though it couldn't have been more than twenty or thirty minutes, he felt like he'd run a marathon... It had taken a very large chunk of his chakra and concentration just to get the Achilles tendons put back together right, and he suspected they were still going to be sore and delicate and keep Obito off his feet for a couple weeks at the least. It was a miracle he'd had the energy to take care of the rest; he'd healed the concussion, the hints of frostbite nipping at the boy's fingers and toes, the worst of the cuts and the bruising... some of the less severe ones he'd had to leave for the moment in the interest of not making himself pass out. He'd have to go for the bandages in a moment once he felt like he could stand... The young doctor took a very deep breath, and sighed.

"What _am _I going to do with you two," he murmured to himself, reaching up to massage his temples a little. Once he could manage it, he needed to go see how Kakashi was doing too...

Back in the bathroom, Kumo had never imagined that his knowledge of wind jutsu, however limited, would ever have been reduced to _drying laundry_ but here he was. Kakashi's clothes were for the most part clean, though Kumo swore they were still a faint shade of pink when he squinted. He might have just been staring into the pink water too long. As far as he could tell, Kakashi was holding it together and mostly clean, though his hair still needed washing and he'd missed spots here and there. Not bad considering the boy's state of mind, he felt.

Sensing a familiar and understandably weary presence behind him, Kumo turned and wordlessly walked to the doorway, pulling Shimenawa into his arms.

"Sunshine," he smiled, giving the doctor a squeeze, "You holding up okay? How's Obito?"

Kakashi looked up, slightly wide-eyed, at the mention of the other boy's name; Shimenawa gave him a smile and a weary wave and hugged Kumo back, leaning rather more of his weight on the other man than was strictly proper.

"Tired, but I'll live," he said good-naturedly, and then, in a slightly abashed tone: "I should... probably sit down, though." Kumo helped him over to a seat, and the doctor gave a little sigh as he plopped down. Obito wasn't the only one who was going to have to rest a while after this.

"And Obito's doing fine." He gave Kakashi, who was watching him nervously, another reassuring smile. "No need to worry anymore, I was able to patch up everything serious. He's going to need some bed rest, but he should be up and about again before too long... right now he's still sleeping but -- Kakashi?"

The kitsune had risen from his place in the bath, looking like he was giving serious consideration to bolting for the door right that second, dirty hair and soaked tail and all. "I-- I should--"

"Let him rest for a while, okay?" Shimenawa would have liked to put a comforting hand on Kakashi's shoulder, but he didn't trust himself for too long on his feet right now, so he stayed put. "He needs it. You can go see him for a little bit after you're all clean and dry and dressed again."

Kakashi swallowed, glancing hesitantly between his Sensei and the door, and finally plopped back into the bath with a somewhat worried, but otherwise blessedly calm expression.

"Kakashi," Kumo called, looking between Shimenawa and the poor thing in the bathtub, "Do you think you can stay and start washing your hair? I'll come help you get dry, but I want to get Sunshine here into bed before he strains something."

Kakashi hesitated for a moment and then nodded, pursing his lips a little as he glanced away to look around for the shampoo.

Shimenawa sighed as he and Kumo stepped out of the room together, arm slung around the other man's shoulder. "Can you at least lay me down in the office...?" he requested. "Don't want Obito to be alone if he wakes up..."

He paused for a second to fight back the dizziness. "How's Kakashi been...? Not hurt, right?"

"He's... as well as can be expected, I guess," Kumo sighed, shaking his head, "He drifts now and again, but he's making an effort. He's a good kid." He offered Shimenawa a small, reassuring smile. He wanted to ask why Kakashi drifted so much around him, but now wasn't the time. Shimenawa was exhausted.

"And sure, Sunshine. Let's get you to that office, then," he nodded before he scooped Shimenawa into his arms. He pressed his lips against Shimenawa's temple. "Don't worry about Kakashi. We can manage on our own."

"Ack-- _Kumo--_" Shimenawa paused, sighed a little, and supposed at the moment it was a little silly to protest being carried around. He smiled a little despite himself, leaning his head against Kumo's shoulder.

"...All right. Seems like you're doing good with him," the doctor murmured, a note of praise in his weary voice.

"In the loosest sense of the word," Kumo sighed, but nodded before carting Shimenawa off to his office to tuck him in on the comfortable looking chair across the room where Obito was lying. He gave Shimenawa a light kiss on the lips and gave him one more hug before pulling away a little.

"You get some rest, okay?"

Shimenawa reached out to give his hair a light stroke, an affectionate smile crossing his lips. "Sure. Thanks, Kumo," he murmured.

"Anytime, Sunshine, anytime. I'll check on you when Kakashi's all cleaned up," Kumo promised in a low voice, not really thinking Obito could hear him but not wanting to disturb him just in case. "Poor kids," he sighed with a shake of his head. Then he waved a little and headed back for the bathroom to make sure everything was fine with Kakashi.

The kitsune was sitting on the floor outside the still-full tub when Kumo returned, dripping on the bathroom tiles as he worked his tail over with a towel. It was mostly clean but the tip was still stained a light pink which Kakashi was... not going to think about how that happened because... he was... not. Yes. Not. Obito was safe and okay and Sensei had said so and Obito's daddy was -- he couldn't hurt Obito anymore and that was the important part. The _only _important part. So everything else was. Okay. Really. He just. Needed to... to fix his tail. That was all. Everything was okay. Everything would be okay if he just. If he. Got clean.

Everything was okay.

He didn't pay much attention to Kumo as the man walked back in, but simply took a deep breath and continued toweling off his tail.

"Hey, kid!" Kumo grinned to see that Kakashi was doing much better than expected, still holding it together and even doing what he was supposed to. "You're looking good. Need some help getting dry?" He collected Kakashi's mostly dry clothes as he spoke and brought them over, offering them to the boy.

Kakashi looked up at him, blinking. His clothes... oh, he'd sort of forgotten...

...and they were still covered with bloodsmell and Obitobloodsmell and-- he--

"U-um..."

He stared down at his feet for a second, trying to hold onto the _now _because everything was okay, really, it was _now _and it was okay and Obito was okay and. Yes. He reached up to rub the towel over his wet hair with slightly unsteady hands.

"Get dressed, yeah?" Kumo encouraged, crouching down next to Kakashi with a slightly sneaky expression on his face, "If you're really quiet, I'll sneak you into Sunshine's office to see how your boy is doing. And if Sunshine catches us, I get to scold _him_ because he's supposed to be resting too." He winked.

Kakashi looked up at the proffered clothing again, rather the way one might look at a rabid animal threatening to bite them. Of course he wanted to go see Obito, but -- if he couldn't keep the bloodsmell away then he didn't -- couldn't -- he--

"Could--" He stopped for a second, swallowing. "Could I borrow... Sensei's..." Sensei's something-or-other. He really didn't care what, he just... needed _away _from it or -- or he -- ...he didn't even know.

Kumo looked down at the clothes in his hand.

'_Ah._'

Then he was grinning again, tossing the clothes into the hamper.

"Sure, kid. You know what? I walked out of the hospital in that nifty little thing that they gave me to wear. I bet it'd really cheer Obito up if we put you in that before we visit." Kumo didn't claim to be a good person, everyone just kind of assumed it. But he meant well.

Kakashi blinked at him some more, not quite understanding the expression on Kumo's face, but, well, it didn't really matter.

"Um, sure..." He nodded slowly, rising to finish toweling off.

Elsewhere, Shimenawa was lying where Kumo had put him, eyes half-lidded as he watched the steady rise and fall of Obito's chest a few feet away. He felt somewhat better just lying here, but was still a bit too keyed-up to sleep -- though frankly he was grateful for that fact; he didn't like to think of leaving everyone else completely to fend for themselves at a time like this. It was bad enough that he had to be stretched out resting here at all.

Kumo led Kakashi in not long after, the former grinning like a maniac and the latter trudging along wearing a flapping, floral print hospital gown.

"Oh, Sunshine," Kumo only sounded a little bit embarassed and mostly cheerful, "Why aren't you sleeping like I told you to?" There was no mention or even acknowledgement of the fact that he had just brought Kakashi wearing a poorly fastened hospital gown, because Kumo felt that, well, it was fairly self explanatory and he had never needed justification for doing stupid things before. Why start now?

"Kumo..."

Shimenawa took one look at Kakashi, slapped a hand against his face, and started quietly laughing.

"Kakashi... you all right? ... Comfortable?" he managed after a minute, mirthfully. It wasn't really nice to make fun of him, but it felt very good to laugh, and that much Shimenawa felt sure Kakashi wouldn't have minded.

Kakashi nodded absently, not noticing much of anything except the somewhat-battered boy stretched out on the exam table. Shimenawa looked away, still snickering a little, as the kitsune rushed over to Obito's side, tail swishing back and forth from just atop his... very bare rear end.

"Obito..."

Kakashi looked him over, took a long slow breath, and breathed a bone-deep sigh of relief.

Everything _was _okay.

Obito roused a little first at the sound of the laughter, then at Kakashi scampering to his side. He groaned softly, trying to figure out why he was so sore as he slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the bright light. Then he saw Kakashi's face and saw how off the other looked. Kakashi looked paler than usual, which was saying something, and he looked tired and stressed and just _off_. It made Obito worry and he sluggishly reached up to touch the kitsune's face.

"Kakashi...?" he whispered hoarsely, "What's wrong? Are you okay? You look like... like..." He blinked his slightly puffy eyes and took in the rest of Kakashi. His mouth fell open.

"...like you're wearing a dress."

Somewhere behind them, Kumo was choking back a fit of laughter.

Kakashi opened his mouth to say something, blinked, frowned, and looked down at himself. ... Well. He supposed. It _did _have flowers on it... but really.

...Obito was okay so it was okay to be offended now, right?

"It's not a dress," he pouted for just a second, and leaned down to hug the other boy very, very tightly.

"Jesus, Kakashi!" Obito tried to laugh but broke off into a fit of coughing, "Not so tight! And stop showing Dad and Sensei your ass!" He was still trying to figure out how he'd gotten here, what had happened after that morning, but Kakashi wiggling his ass at the people who were more or less their parents--

Parents. Obito went still, recalling that morning. He'd left the house for groceries. What then? Obito closed his eyes and touched his forehead with his hand. He couldn't remember.

Kakashi might have considered taking time to be embarrassed about said ass, but then the look on Obito's face changed, and he frowned, looking worried again. He'd loosened his vice-grip on the other boy, but he hadn't let go, still half-bent over the exam table embracing Obito awkwardly.

"...Obito?" His eyes widened a little, a twinge of fear passing through his expression. "Are you...?"

"Huh?" Obito blinked his confusion away, "Am I what? What's wrong, Kakashi?"

Silver brows furrowing, Kakashi just shook his head and leaned in to hug Obito more tightly again. He took a deep breath, pressing his face into the other boy's soft (if a little dirty) hair, and tried to ignore the Obitobloodsmell and resisted the urge to just climb right on top of him. That would probably hurt Obito, anyway...

"Glad you're okay," he mumbled.

Shimenawa -- carefully keeping his gaze level with the boys' faces -- pursed his lips a little.

"Hey, you know me, Kakashi," Obito smiled, "There's nothing I'm better at than taking beatings. You said so once yourself." He snuggled Kakashi reassuringly and tried to sit up but his legs sharply protested. He fell back onto his elbows with a soft 'oof'.

Legs. There was something wrong with his legs. He furrowed his brows and looked over at Shimenawa.

"...Sensei? There's... I can't really move my legs." He tried not to sound afraid because he didn't want to upset Kakashi. He tried.

"Your legs will be just fine," Shimenawa spoke up quickly, before either of the boys could start panicking. He tried to keep his voice as upbeat as possible. "Some of the muscles were a little messed-up, but I healed them. They're weak right now, though; you're going to need to stay off your feet for a few days to let them get strong again." In reality he guessed it was going to be longer than that, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. He wasn't quite sure what they'd do about Obito's work, but...

He stopped to bite back a yawn. It seemed his earlier exertion was finally playing catch-up.

Obito tried to think again, holding on to Kakashi. Some of the muscles in his legs-- what had he done to them? Nothing. It hadn't been him. He remembered snow. Trying to run. But he _couldn't_ because he couldn't use his feet and then he couldn't feel them anymore and then... someone had come, someone had-- Obito covered his mouth with his hands and let out a quietly terrified sound.

"_Daddy_," he whispered, pulling away from Kakashi to hug his arms to his chest, "Oh, god, I made him so angry. He's so mad at me and... and oh he's _so_ mad, Shimenawa-sensei. He's going to... going to..." Obito broke off into a whimper and shook his head. "He's going to _kill_ me this time, he is, and I shouldn't have been bad but... but I..."

"Obito--" Shimenawa's eyes went wide and he rose sharply out of his chair and... promptly felt a wave of dizziness as his legs gave out from under him. "Shit..." the doctor swore under his breath, grimacing as he collapsed back against the chair and tried to convince his head to stop spinning. "Obito... It's okay..." he called over to the boy, as loudly and reassuringly as he could manage. "You're safe... your dad's not here... you're with Sensei and Kakashi and Kumo..."

Kakashi clutched at the other boy frantically, eyes wide. "Obito... _Obito!_ Don't -- please, please come back, come _back, _please, please, _please,_" and he repeated it in a mumble over and over as he grabbed the boy, sitting Obito up to clutch him against Kakashi's chest, the kitsune shaking his head. The tears he'd been saving up all day went trickling unnoticed down his cheeks. _Oh god this can't be happening, it was _okay, _it's supposed to be okay, oh god no Obito nonononononono please..._

"Please don't let him hurt me again," Obito begged no one in particular, because no one ever managed to help him so it didn't matter much who he asked. He clung on to Kakashi, trembling, mind snatched far away by his blind panic. The beatings and the locking him in the closet and the making him call himself a bad boy in front of the mirror and the making him sit at the dinner table without being able to eat and the forcing him to drink until he was sick and the making him go without shoes and... and... all of it, just all of it and this time Daddy had really, _really_ hurt him. Hurt him bad and made him crawl through the snow and he had been _so mad_ and he would be even more mad because Obito was here and not home. He would be so mad that maybe he would really, really kill Obito this time.

"I won't, I won't, I won't..." Kakashi's voice was only just intelligible, the words coming out more than half a whimper. His whole body was shaking as he clutched at Obito's ripped and bloodstained clothes, valiantly resisting the compulsion to just curl up on the floor and sob. Obito... _ohgodObitowasgoingto_

"I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," he swore desperately through his tears, "I won't let them touch you, never ever ever, I'll kill them all, I'll never let -- can't -- I won't do it, I can't do it anymore and, and I can't and they, I, the one time-- I-- I'll protect you so please come back, Obito, please, _please..._ not... again..."

He kept talking until he couldn't make his mouth work right any more, and all that would come out were quiet sobs.

Shimenawa took a very deep breath and, slowly and deliberately, tried to rise from his chair. He couldn't just _sit _here while his boys were... Kumo caught his arm, then helped him to his feet with a somber but encouraging smile. He had been watching all this time feeling horribly out of place, like a stranger watching something very intimate. It made him feel like he should leave, because it didn't concern him and he was little better than a voyeur for being a spectator to their pain. But right now, he knew what he was here for. Who he was here for.

"I got you, Sunshine," he murmured in a low voice, letting Shimenawa put all the weight on him he needed, "Let's go help our boys."

Shimenawa nodded, swallowing once, and they made their way very carefully over to the exam table.

"Kakashi...?" He put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, and then leaned down into Obito's face, trying to make eye contact, his weight leaning rather heavily on Kumo's side. The key to getting Kakashi calmed down was undoubtedly going to be in taking care of Obito first.

"Obito? Obito, can you look at me?" He touched the boy's face. "It's Shimenawa-sensei... you're in my office... you're safe, okay? Obito, can you look this way? Look Sensei in the eye."

"...safe?" Obito whispered, gaze managing to fix on the one person in the world he thought could maybe be stronger than his dad, the one person who had ever been able to patch things up even a little. He swallowed, blinking slowly. Office. This was Shimenawa-sensei's office he was in. He had known that. And this was a safe place. Daddy couldn't come here, or the police would take him away and put him somewhere overnight to cool off. But then he always came back the next day really mad and he'd get the belt, the one that was made out of real leather with the silver buckle. The marks the belt gave Obito stayed.

"...don't make me go back this time, Shimenawa-sensei," he whispered, cringing a little at the memory, "You won't let him have me back this time, right?"

"You don't have to go back," Shimenawa soothed, tears pricking the corners of his eyes slightly as he gave a reassuring smile, stroking Obito's cheek. "You never have to go back ever again... you're safe. Everything's okay. I'm here and Kakashi's here and we'll take care of you. You're safe," he repeated, keeping his voice as soothing as he could.

Kakashi gave a quick, shaky nod from where he was standing, still trembling as he clutched Obito against his body, breathing ragged. He too seemed to be listening to Shimenawa's words intently.

Obito was all at once smiling with relief and disbelief. This was _never_ how it went. Usually Shimenawa would give him that sad, tired, worn smile and stroke his hair and tell him that he'd keep Obito as long as he was able. He... really didn't have to go back this time. Or ever again. Because... because... he was all grown now. He was his own person and... Kakashi? Was in his arms. Kakashi. The weird fox thing from the forest. That turned into a boy. Who was his... stupid, _stupid, _intolerable Genin teammate who he inevitably loved in spite of it all. Loved? Obito shuddered and tightened his grip on Kakashi, mindless of the protests his body made.

"K-kakashi..." he choked out, "You... you were there. You carried me home. I... I always knew you would if you were able to. I always knew you wouldn't leave me unless you had to. You... you saved me and you brought me home and..." Red and white. Blood in the snow. His blood. Then there was the blood on Kakashi. He swore he'd seen the blood on Kakashi, if only for a moment. That blood wasn't his. Obito's eyes widened.

"...what did you do to my dad?"

And then in that single moment it was all crowding straight back into Kakashi's head again and he took a deep breath and shuddered harder.

"I... he..."

And he shuddered again, and suddenly he stilled. His grip slackened ever so slightly around Obito as the expression on his face visibly smoothed out, tearstained gaze drifting off to stare toward a distant patch of floor tiles.

"...he hurt you. I hurt him back," Kakashi murmured simply.

Shimenawa took a very deep breath. Trying not to outwardly cringe, Kumo slipped his arm around Shimenawa's waist and pulled him a little closer. He knew a storm coming when he saw one.

"What... how bad did you hurt him, Kakashi?" Obito asked softly, strangely still as he let go of the kitsune, voice even and calm save for the faint note of bordering on hysteria it carried.

Kakashi continued to hang onto Obito loosely, looking down at him with that blank expression for a moment, as though surprised he would ask.

"'Til he stopped moving," the kitsune replied. He ceased to blink as he looked Obito in the face, a strange gleam in his mismatched eyes.

"Kakashi--" Shimenawa began, eyes very wide. Not that he couldn't have guessed, but--

"Don't worry," Kakashi continued heedless, demeanor still strangely, horribly calm. "I won't let it happen again. Ever."

Obito didn't say anything else after that, but he stared at Kakashi in what could only be fixated horror before he dropped his gaze to his hands. Stopped moving. Kakashi'd... Kakashi'd killed his dad. For him. Kakashi had only been trying to protect him, because his dad had really done something awful and unforgivable and he'd cut into Obito's ankles until he couldn't walk anymore and yet... His dad was dead. The man had never been much of a viable person, never mind a decent father. He was nothing but pain and abuse and fear for Obito, but... he was still _Dad_. There was that one night when Obito's dad was so drunk he couldn't even get all the way on the couch. Obito had helped him up and pulled the blanket over him and... and his dad had touched his arm and told him he was a good boy. That was all Obito had ever really wanted as a child. Those once in a whiles kept Obito from leaving home all those years. Kakashi had killed Obito's dad. It... it hadn't really been his dad's fault, either. He had been drunk and evicted and most likely hungry and Obito _had_ left him without any warning or support and... Obito's dad got a little out of hand sometimes when things were desperate. Obito had gotten his dad killed.

Quietly, he continued to stare into his hands.

Shimenawa watched horrifiedly as his boy just... stopped. Stopped saying anything. That was completely unlike Obito at all and the doctor swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat, reaching between Kakashi's arms to try and pull Obito into a hug, as much as he was capable. Kakashi slid away without a protest, and just kept gazing toward the pair of them with that same blank expression, one hand resting lightly on Obito's arm.

"Obito..." Shimenawa swallowed again and shook his head a little, feeling completely at a loss.

Obito didn't answer for some time, the seconds slipping by into minutes as he simply stared into his hands and thought of absolutely nothing except that his dad was gone now. Forever. And that he'd wanted his dad to be gone so badly and now he was and it wasn't what Obito had imagined it would be. When he finally did speak, he didn't look up, unable to bring himself to look at Shimenawa or Kakashi.

"...I'm tired. Can I be alone for a little while?"

Shimenawa took another deep breath, and nodded. He reached up to stroke Obito's hair softly for a second and then pulled away, leaning his weight against Kumo. He was feeling a little faint again.

"Of course," he murmured. Glancing up at the kitsune on the other side of the exam table, he tried to catch Kakashi's eye.

"Kakashi? Come with me and Kumo, okay...?"

Kakashi looked up at the sound of his name, but otherwise made no reaction.

"Kakashi..." Shimenawa paused, a little light-headed. "We're going in the other room... Come with us," he repeated. "Obito will be okay. He'll be just in here. Come with us for a little bit."

The kitsune blinked once, and paused, glancing down at Obito, and then at last gave a slow nod.

Kumo took that as his cue to pick up Shimenawa again before the doctor had a chance to pass out. The poor thing was going to sleep like the dead tonight whether he liked it or not, but it was okay because Kumo was never one to pass up a good opportunity. If Shimenawa was going to be out like a light, Kumo had a chance to watch him sleep without risking that the ex-Hokage would sense something and wake up. It had been a rough day, sure, and Kumo knew fully well the bumpy stretch was still up ahead, but he excelled at not dwelling on things. Right now, Obito was going to get through maybe another ten minutes of being in shock before passing out, Shimenawa another half hour at best, and Kakashi was a little bit of a wild card but tranquilizers were always an option. They could try to square things again in the morning. And, hey, if not that there was always one of Kumo's favorite sayings of 'why do something today that you can put off indefinitely?'.

"Kakashi, can you open that door for us?" Kumo called, mostly to get Kakashi in front of him and out of the room first. He waited for the boy to move, then followed his son's bare backside out.

Obito almost managed to wait for the door to shut before he curled into a ball to cry.


	18. Chapter 18

Second Sight

Authors' note: Hey, everyone! This is just a heads up that Second Sight is taking a one-week hiatus because Obito-mun is made of lose and has to bail on Kakashi-mun for that long to attend Otakon, but we promise we'll be back mostly on schedule after that. On the bright side, this chapter's one of the longer ones? And also as a side note, this is the chapter where PLOTS OF DEWM begin. :D Great place to leave off, huh? (Obviously we've decided we have too many readers and are trying to see how many we can drive away. Or something. Just kidding, we love you guys.) Oh, and shout out to all of our great and lovely reviewers! You guys are the best and reading your reviews totally make our day. Alright, see you all in a week!

Hugs and kisses, the Schizoninjas 

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Chapter Eighteen_

The next week was a decidedly long one. Within a couple of days, Shimenawa had recovered enough to resume most of his regular routine, though he was running the office on shorter hours; but Obito, on the other hand, was still healing up -- Shimenawa and Kumo had taken the couch bed and moved Obito into the bedroom -- and on top of that was still barely talking. Even more disturbing to Shimenawa was the fact that he could barely get the boy to eat one meal a day; for someone who usually ate as much as Obito ate, that was downright terrifying.

Kakashi's behavior was not helping the overall mood of the house either. Since that evening he seemed never to have snapped out of the strange mood Obito's questioning had put him into; Shimenawa knew he was still somewhere around the vicinity of the house but it had become nigh-impossible to actually find him, save when the doctor accidentally found himself staring down a pair of gleaming mismatched fox-eyes in random dark nooks and crannies. Even then Kakashi didn't stick around -- the one time Shimenawa had managed to corner his human self and asked Kakashi to come eat dinner with them, the kitsune had just given him a blank look and, a moment later, simply vanished. It was making Shimenawa rather distinctly nervous.

And on Kumo's home front, it was growing increasingly obvious that the man was losing it in the midst of all the quiet chaos. It began with little things. The faucet stopped dripping one night and the next morning, none of the doors creaked when they were opened. 'Wet paint' signs appeared in various places in the house, followed shortly by fox-sized paw prints on the wall and floor when those signs weren't heeded. After a few days, it grew steadily worse. The house abruptly had satellite TV, the kitchen found itself with a new stove and a dishwasher and all the cupboards were removed and replaced by fancy wood-and-glass contraptions. It was beginning to grow out of hand the morning the bathroom spawned a hot tub. And those were only the successful attempts. (Kumo always cleaned up after himself, but once in a while he wouldn't clean up quite fast enough and things would happen like Shimenawa trying to go up a flight of stairs that wasn't there anymore.)

Truth was that Kumo wasn't used to being cooped up in one place so long and didn't much like it. That much was common knowledge, but add tension and everyone around him being out of it in sorts and him not being able to book the next flight out of the country and what you got was a mess. It was too awkward for Kumo to not keep himself busy, but it took a great deal to keep a man with as much energy as he had busy. And so here they all were.

By the end of the week Obito was visibly dropping weight and still wouldn't talk or come out or eat, Kakashi was still doing his best impression of a loose rodent, Kumo was seriously considering building a dog house outside, and Shimenawa was... Well, other than morbidly considering calling a TV network about making a show about them, he wasn't really much of anything but worried.

"Have a good trip home! Stay safe, okay?" he called out the door of his office one afternoon, waving with a smile as he saw a 12-year-old patient out the door. She was his last of the day, and he breathed a long sigh as he turned around to close the door and lock it behind him, turning the window sign to Closed and walking around cleaning up odds and ends in the office waiting room. Absently he rifled through recipes in his head, supposing tonight he'd make dinner and then try talking to Obito again...

When he walked into the exam room, Kakashi was sitting on the central table.

Shimenawa paused, watching the kitsune carefully. Kakashi gazed toward him with that same lack of expression, tail twitching slightly down around his feet; at some point he'd exchanged the airy hospital gown for a dark-colored winter yukata. For a moment, each of them simply looked at each other without saying a word.

"Something the matter, Kakashi?" the doctor asked, choosing his words with care. He didn't like seeing Kakashi this way. The boy's blankness was just too perfect; it was impossible to tell what he was feeling underneath it, if indeed he was feeling anything at all. He had been like this frequently in the days following Obito's death, all those years ago, and the feelings it brought back to watch him do it again were decidedly not pleasant ones.

"Obito's mad at me," Kakashi said to the wall, swinging his legs slightly as he slouched there on the exam table.

"He's not mad at you," Shimenawa soothed gently, taking an uncertain step forward. He wasn't sure if Kakashi would run away again or what might prompt him to do so. All he did know was that he couldn't afford it. "He's just... tired. It's a lot for him to take in. He just needs time to get better, but he's certainly not mad at you. He loves you, Kakashi."

Kakashi shook his head slightly, blinking as his gaze wandered at random over the wall. He turned his head up toward the ceiling to follow the line of an extension cord wedged in the top corner.

"He won't talk to me," the kitsune murmured. For a moment his feet stilled as he looked over toward Shimenawa's face again.

"Was I bad?"

"You..." Shimenawa paused to sigh, not entirely sure how to handle the question considering Kakashi's fragile state of mind. "You probably saved Obito's life, Kakashi. Killing isn't... isn't a good thing, but sometimes you have to and sometimes it's for the best. This might be one of those times." He reached out slowly, offering Kakashi his hand.

"We both know that man hurt Obito for a very long time, don't we?" he asked softly.

Kakashi looked down at Shimenawa's hand for a long moment, the tilt of his head drifting slightly to one side.

"I owed him. I told him, eighteen years worth."

His voice was still quiet, uncomfortably vague. He paused.

"It was _not _good form," the kitsune felt compelled to report to his Sensei. "I was wide open."

"I'll have to spot you next time, then," Shimenawa found himself smiling despite himself. He felt a little bit guilty for the fact that he couldn't bring himself to feel bad that Obito's father had been torn to pieces, but the truth was that on some level, he was sort of proud of Kakashi for having done it. Not that he could really tell anyone given the sensitive nature of the information. (Though, maybe Kumo would understand.)

"Want to come with me to try and cheer Obito up?" he asked in a somewhat brighter mood, nudging Kakashi's hand with his own.

Kakashi looked at the proffered hand for a second longer before finally reaching out to take it. Smiling a little proudly, Shimenawa led Kakashi out to the logical place to go to cheer Obito up. Which would be the kitchen, of course! It had gotten a little hard to find things after Kumo changed all the cabinets around, but it was still where the key to Obito's heart was.

He opened cupboards here and there, peeking into the fridge and then the pantry as he tried to find something Obito would find palatable. Everything he had come up with thus far hadn't worked. Not the waffles or the steak or even the ramen. It was time for a whole new approach. It went against everything he was as a doctor, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Kakashi!" he declared, clapping his hands together decisively, "I need you to run to the store for me. Today, we're going to bake Obito so many cakes he won't be able to say no."

Kakashi just stared at him for a second. He stared a second longer. Then he looked down contemplatively toward the floor.

"Good idea," the kitsune declared, sounding, if distracted, still rather distinctly impressed.

"Glad you think so," Shimenawa piped back offhandedly as he found his grocery pad and made a list. All the staples for making a cake and then about a year's supply of chocolate. He had never tried it before, but he was sure he could come up with some kind of triple-chocolate, chocolate chunk fudge brownie cake. If he had to, he would enlist Kumo's help, but only as a consultant because he wanted to cheer Obito up, not kill him.

"The grocer's down by the flower shop should have everything here," he informed Kakashi as he handed the boy the list and a couple thousand-ryou notes, "Come back soon as you can and don't talk to strangers, okay?"

Kakashi nodded slightly, looking down at the money with mild curiosity as it was pressed into his hand. He seemed a little bit more himself as he padded off in the direction of the genkan. He even remembered to put on his shoes before he left.

It was a short and mostly uneventful trip; reminding himself as often as possible that they were trying to help Obito, Kakashi managed to find all the items on the list without getting too off-track anywhere, though it was a narrow miss when a lady was walking her dogs outside the store and again at the frozen food cases inside. (They looked really weird fogged up...) At the cashier's he plunked down all the money Sensei had given him and didn't quite think to wait for the change; but the important thing was getting back so Sensei could finish making his cake and maybe Obito would be happy and eat something and maybe not be mad at Kakashi anymore. He swung the plastic shopping bag back and forth carefully as he walked out of the grocer's, tail twitching a little where it was wrapped around his waist underneath his yukata.

A young man was going through the newspapers and magazines at a little corner stand just ahead of where Kakashi was. He was dressed in a Konoha Genin rank cadet's uniform, probably fresh out of the Academy. The small badges just above his breast pocket marked him as the top of his graduating class. His hair was fashionably windswept but was an unimpressive shade of brown, his skin a generic almost-tan. He was quite forgettable, actually. Handsome, but not exactly eye-catching, charming and charismatic in a way that left few impressions... but then they were his eyes. Something about those beautiful, honey eyes... His gaze caught Kakashi and he stopped, setting the magazine he had been leafing through down to smile and step in the hurrying boy's path.

Kakashi's eyes had been on the ground; he blinked, stopping as a pair of feet suddenly stepped right into his field of vision, and he looked up, and then up some more. For a moment, he just stared at the unfamiliar looking man standing in his way, the three tomoe of the Sharingan spinning slowly in his left eye.

"...Hello?" he ventured after a second.

Sensei had only said not to talk to _strangers, _after all.

"Good to see you again," the not-stranger smiled, pausing thoughtfully to wet his lips. "Such a fascinating eye. But it's not really yours, now is it?"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side as he looked at the man, frowning slightly. What a silly question.

"Of course not, it's Obito's," he replied, voice faintly confused.

"Ahhhh..." the cadet sighed, smile still present, as though Kakashi had just told him something immeasurably precious, "So it is. I hate to go, Hatake Kakashi, but I'm afraid there is somewhere I must be. Do stay in touch this time." He reached out and touched the side of Kakashi's face, then trailed his hand down until it felt the slight rise around Kakashi's waist that was the boy's tail. The Genin's lips curved into a smirk.

"You just keep getting more interesting. Well, send your sensei my regards."

A gust of wind picked up the snow lining the street and the young man seemed to fade into them. Then he was gone.

Kakashi blinked at the place where the man had been standing for a few moments. He had the niggling feeling that he should be concerned about what had just happened, but couldn't quite put his finger on why; as with many things, the memories slipped away from him like clumsily flopping fish whenever he tried to think about them in any great detail. After a moment, he gave a mental shrug and continued down the street, putting the issue behind him.

It wasn't like he'd been talking to a stranger, anyway.

"..._four sticks of butter_?" Shimenawa was repeating in disbelief back in the kitchen around the time Kakashi got back, "We're _not_ putting _four_ sticks of butter in this cake, Kumo!"

"But that's how you make it taste good!" Kumo whined back insistently, "And you can't forget the pudding mix or the cake won't be good'n moist. And there has to be at _least_ four layers to put all the frosting in between. See? Four layers! One stick of butter for each layer! You want the kid better or not? You can't mess with a classic recipe like my Chocolate Reaper of Souls cake!" Shimenawa looked pained as he pressed his hand to his face and tried not to let his eyes roll clear out of his head. At least the cake was aptly named.

"At this rate you're going to die at thirty anyway, Kumo," he groaned, "Then I'll have to call you a liar for promising to grow old with me."

"Hey now, Sunshine, that hurts," Kumo pouted back, "Takes more than a little cake to kill me."

"You're forgetting four sticks of butter, six cups of sugar, two blocks of baker's chocolate, bag of chocolate chips, _two _quarts of chocolate frosting, three packets of pudding mix, and the cup of caramel. I'm not even sure how all of this makes a cake-- I didn't ask Kakashi to buy half of this stuff anyway," Shimenawa sighed, rubbing his temple trying to soothe the splitting headache he was developing. It was then that he noticed Kakashi was back.

"Hey, you can always send him out again," Kumo offered helpfully. Shimenawa shushed him with a wave of his hand.

"How was the trip, Kakashi?"

"...Um."

Kakashi looked down at himself for a second, shrugged slightly, and walked over to Shimenawa, holding out the bag for his sensei to take. "Your list is gone," he said, more in the way of an observation than an apology. He plopped down on the floor next to the kitchen counter.

"Is Obito okay?" he murmured, fiddling with a nearby cabinet knob.

"He's the same as before," Shimenawa sighed with a slight shake of his head, "but I might've heard him cough in agreement to Kumo's idea of putting two blocks of chocolate on top of an entire bag of chocolate chips into the cake we're making, so we might actually have to go with that."

Well, if he was coughing and agreeing to stuff, he wasn't dead or anything, so that was close enough to okay for right now. Kakashi sat there swishing his tail across his legs under the yukata for a little while, watching Sensei and Kumo make cake and feeling generally blank and not-there and somehow, also kind of impatient. He wanted to make Obito happy _now. _But of course cakes didn't just appear out of nowhere. ... wait. Yes they did. But Sensei was already working on his cake right now and they didn't need _two _cakes. Well, Obito probably wouldn't mind, but he might throw up like that time they bought the giant tub of ice cream and throwing up definitely would not make Obito happy.

"Don't make him throw up, though," he remarked to the room at large, curling his legs under him a little and leaning back against the under-counter cabinets.

In retrospect, Shimenawa decided making cake with Kumo sounded not entirely unlike having sex, considering the things that were said (shouted, really) and the sounds Kumo made when he snuck batter into his mouth.

"Kumo! Don't put _that_ there! Stop! You're getting the chocolate everywhere!"

"Aww, I never pegged you as the type who minded a little bit of fun with chocolate, Sunshine."

"Get your hand out of there, Kumo! Right now!"

"Sunshine, relax a little. You're taking all the fun out of this."

"How can I relax when-- damnit, Kumo! Now my hair is going to be sticky. Are you sure you've done this before?"

And so on and so forth. But somehow, the cake eventually went into the oven, though Shimenawa had the suspicion that most of the batter remained on his counter, floor, and person. Kumo, on the other hand, was infuriatingly clean. And smug.

Kakashi reached up to run a finger through some of the spilled cake batter spattered over the counter near his head. He proceeded to stick it in his mouth and give it an experimental lick.

"Your cake's good, Sensei," he declared, and then rose to go plop down next to the oven and watch it bake.

"Don't say that," Shimenawa sighed, but the battle was lost. He couldn't possibly not let Kakashi have some of the cake after that, but good lord would they need the next week or so to detox. After that, a new rule would be instated. Kumo wouldn't be allowed in the kitchen except to eat. (...And maybe to make a batch of cookies, on rare special occasions. Shimenawa was a weak, weak man.)

"You know what would really get Obito back to his old self?" Shimenawa lamented as he pulled the finished cake out of the oven forty minutes of more or less bickering with Kumo later, "Taiyaki. Boy would swim across the ocean for that stuff, but it's the middle of winter and I'm afraid that's one thing I don't know how to make."

Kakashi, who'd moved to take a seat next to the table, glanced up at his sensei for a moment. Again, the man had a point.

Shimenawa walked over to set the cake down to cool on the table; Kumo reached up, still smirking a little, to put the canister of sugar back in one of the cabinets. And when they turned back, there was a distinctly family-sized box of taiyaki, fresh and slightly steaming, sitting on the far end of the counter.

The kitsune just sat there, nonchalantly pulling a knot out of his tail.

"Well." Shimenawa cast Kakashi a fond puzzled look before shaking his head. "That makes things easier, doesn't it?" he smiled, "Why don't you take those to Obito since they're your gift and Kumo and I will finish this cake?"

"...Um." Kakashi looked ever so slightly apprehensive about this prospect, but nodded slowly, getting up from the floor and dusting himself off slightly. He left two taiyaki on the counter and picked up the box with the rest, heading over to the kitchen doorway.

"They're azuki," he said as he walked past the pair of men, clutching the box to his chest as he walked off toward Sensei's bedroom.

Obito was huddled up in the blankets as usual, though his nose was peeking out of them for once so a little bit of his face could be seen. Apparently he could still enjoy chocolate smells, and then... the faint, sweet fragrance of taiyaki, snack of the gods. The smell made Obito frown and idly wonder if lack of food was finally making him hallucinate. He heard someone come in and the taiyaki smell got stronger. Not entirely ready to be bothered, Obito rolled over and closed the little opening he'd made in his blanket cocoon.

"I'm not hungry," his muffled voice sniffed through the layers of cotton.

Kakashi blinked down at the taiyaki, then back up at Obito, then down again. Well. Obito was mad at him. Maybe he didn't want something Kakashi brought.

"Okay," he said, with a small, quiet sigh, and walked over to set the box down on the edge of the bed anyway, just in case. He retreated to a corner of the room, not quite ready to leave yet now that he'd come in -- Obito was mad at him but he was still -- was -- was _Obito_. Kakashi curled up in the corner with his legs pulled against his chest, tail curling around his ankles, and rested his chin atop crossed arms and started counting the swirls in the floorboards.

"...Kakashi?" Obito squeaked after he realized who was in the room with him and he wiggled around a little bit until he could peek out his blankets again, "What are you... is... is that _taiyaki_?"

Kakashi glanced up at him, surprised and daring to be a little hopeful. If Obito was actually talking to his _face, _maybe...

"...Yeah?"

A single hand snaked out of the opening in the blankets and sucked the box of taiyaki in, followed shortly by the sound of many innocent pastry fish meeting their grisly ends.

"Where'd you... find taiyaki?" Obito asked, mouth still sounding slightly full.

Kakashi blinked, looking slightly perplexed by the question. "...I made them?" he answered, tilting his head slightly to the side. His eyes were still rather big. This was -- this was good. Very very good. And Obito was eating stuff and that was... also good.

"...are there any more?" Obito sounded a little bit hopeful as he pushed the empty box back out, not wanting crumbs all on the inside of his nest. "...and why didn't you ever tell me you could make taiyaki?" He sounded a little bit betrayed.

"Um... I can make lots of stuff. Like. Pretty much. Anything, I guess." The confusion on Kakashi's face did not abate. "But, um. There's... rules and stuff..." He frowned slightly, expression making it clear that he didn't quite understand properly himself.

Before Obito could say anything back, he walked over to Sensei's closet door, and opened it up to pull out another box of taiyaki that had somehow managed to find its way inside. He set this one down on the bed as well.

"Don't make yourself sick, Sensei made cake," he informed the other boy as he sat down again, daring to rest a little closer to the bed this time.

"Don't want cake," Obito spoke with a fish tail wagging out of his mouth, "But a few more crates of these'll do." He mowed through that box as well before evicting the empty box from his nest once more. Then he studied Kakashi for a moment, stared really. He came to some sort of conclusion before he spoke again.

"...if you happen to find another box of taiyaki somewhere, I'll let you come into Fort Uchiha for a little while."

Kakashi stared back at him for a couple seconds, with a distinctly shocked expression, and then the next box of taiyaki turned out to be hiding in Sensei's sock drawer. He plopped it on the bed and made to dive for the sheets, but after a split second hesitated with one hand half-stretched toward Obito, resting crouched on the edge of the bed. He looked the other boy in the face with an apprehensive expression.

"...Are you not... not mad at me now... then?" he asked, voice weakening into a mumble.

"I will be if you don't get out from between me and the taiyaki," Obito warned, pawing for the box. Once he managed to get a hold of it, he opened up the blankets enough for Kakashi to crawl in. "And it's not my fault if there are crumbs in your hair later." Because he couldn't be bothered to be sad or guilty or confused right now. It was taiyaki time. He had been getting tired of feeling bad anyway. A break from it was nice. Obito wasn't sure how he felt right now and he planned on keeping it that way until he got the rest of his taiyaki and his cuddles. He was long overdue for cuddles.

Kakashi didn't need any further invitation. He wrapped himself around Obito just about the second he'd crawled in; there might have been the smallest whimper as he laid his head against the other boy's shoulder, but otherwise he just held on tight and said nothing further, just breathing in Obitosmell and feeling his warmth and his heart beating in his chest and being kind of deliriously relieved.

"Miss me that much?" Obito asked quietly, wrapping one arm around Kakashi so the other arm was still free to have at the taiyaki. "It's okay. I missed you too. I guess." He shrugged. "I don't remember a lot of the past couple days. Want some taiyaki?" Mentioning the last few days bothered Obito a little bit, prompting his subject change to the one thing he knew would always be safe to talk about.

Kakashi shook his head a little. Eating taiyaki required moving, and moving required not being basically attached to Obito, which position he was not ready to give up quite yet. Besides, they weren't _for _Kakashi.

"...you should. Eat stuff." He frowned down at Obito's lap a little. "I mean. More stuff. You're all... you haven't really..." The words wouldn't quite come, and he trailed off with a sigh, electing to nuzzle against Obito's neck in lieu of trying to make his stupid brain work.

"Yeah, I know," Obito sighed, nibbling at the tip of a tail, giving Kakashi a one-armed snuggle, "I've just been sick lately. Everywhere. I didn't feel like eating... or talking... and _really _didn't feel like moving. But I guess everything's getting better now. 'm still sore, but... things are getting better." He pressed a slightly sticky kiss against Kakashi's brow.

"...thanks for saving me, Kakashi. I forgot to tell you."

Kakashi did move then, to blink up at him, expression rather patently surprised.

"...Welcome," he murmured, resuming his place with a small sigh of something resembling relief.

"Sorry I was bad," he added quietly after a moment, absently resting his hand over one side of Obito's chest. Yes. Still beating. It was all... alive. And nice.

"You weren't bad, Kakashi," Obito insisted, pausing to lick his lips before starting on the next taiyaki, "If anyone was bad, it was me. But that doesn't matter right now, okay? You're in Fort Uchiha and sad thoughts are checked at the door. No more sad thoughts for you. Only cuddles. And taiyaki."

...he _wasn't _bad? And of course Obito wasn't bad. He really wasn't bad? He wasn't... was. Well. He hadn't not been. ... hadn't. Being. ... unbad.

Wait.

Anyway, it didn't matter and Obito wasn't mad at him and in fact wanted to cuddle! So Kakashi just hugged him a little closer with a contented smile.

A moment later there was a quiet knock outside the door, and a moment after that, Shimenawa stuck his head in without waiting for a response. He blinked rather surprisedly at the pair of boys all wrapped up in the bedsheets, and couldn't help smiling a little himself.

"Umm... I come bearing cake?" he offered as he stepped all the way inside, carrying a pair of small plates with him (he hadn't forgotten about Kakashi). "If you have room, that is," he added with some amusement as he noted the empty boxes of taiyaki littering the floor.

Obito considered replying with something along the lines of always having room, but it felt a little too awkward to say just then. Instead he only shifted around until there was a window-sized opening in his next of blankets.

"Cake is an acceptable offering," he nodded, "But we'll have to leave the fort to eat it 'cause crumbs in the fort aren't okay. C'mon, Kakashi." There was a thoughtful pause.

"...we should make a couch fort later. But we need a bigger couch because... because I got too big for Sensei's little couch."

Shimenawa did his best to hold back his laughter as he set the cake down on the bedside table, and sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment to pull Obito (and by extension Kakashi) into a hug.

"Good to see you," he murmured, ruffling Obito's hair before he pulled away slightly. The doctor's voice turned teasingly good-natured as he continued with, "And after you're done eating... maybe I could talk you into a shower?"

"I dunno, Sensei," Obito replied theatrically, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead in a fake swoon, "I'm too hurt and weak and delicate to possibly make it all the way to the shower. I might just need someone to sponge bathe me for now."

"Well then," and Shimenawa's smile twitched slightly wider as he rose from the bed again, "I'm sure _Kumo _would be very happy to help you with that."

The opening in the ball of blankets snapped shut and Obito wormed his way behind Kakashi, trying to come up with a snappy comeback in lieu of whimpering like a little girl at the appalling mental image.

"Fine," he finally sniffed indignantly, "I'll just pretend he's Kakashi." And then, squeaking into Kakashi's ear, he continued with, "You won't let your dad sponge bathe me, will you, Kakashi?"

"Um..." Kakashi glanced between the pair rather confusedly, frowning at Obito. "I guess not...?"

"Well then, I suppose you'll just have to use your amazing willpower and somehow struggle all the way to the shower by yourself. I could probably at least spot you a wheelchair," Shimenawa mused cheerfully. If he was honest with himself, he was rather surprised at how suddenly this uptick in Obito's mood had appeared; but he wasn't going to complain. Not when there was more teasing that could be done.

"You're just jealous Kumo won't sponge bathe _you_," Obito huffed and clung to Kakashi's midsection, "It's not _my_ fault my boyfriend's more amazing than yours."

Kakashi blinked at Obito for a second, and smiled.

"Actually," Shimenawa said, grinning wider and glancing away (and perhaps going a little pink), "I imagine he would if I asked nicely... Or, really, just said the words 'sponge bath' anywhere in a 50-meter radius of him..."

With impeccable timing, Kumo poked his head in as though on cue, trying his best to look as though he hadn't been standing right outside the door.

"Did I just hear you request a sponge bath, Sunshine?"

Obito promptly choked.

Shimenawa got distinctly redder as the other man popped in, and though he looked like he wasn't quite sure whether to be amused or profoundly embarrassed, started to laugh despite himself. "Well, no, you didn't, but you seem to have proven my theory," he declared brightly, walking over to the doorway to give his boyfriend (and wasn't that still a very weird word to be using) a peck on the cheek. He turned back to grin at Kakashi and Obito for a moment longer.

"I'll leave you boys to it, okay? Just give us a shout if you need anything. There's a lot more cake where that came from, so help yourself." He would have to stuff them full of nutritious things later to make up for it, but for the moment it was just nice to see Obito eating _something. _"And seriously," he added, still smiling as he raised an eyebrow at the dark-haired boy, "shower for you. You can borrow my pajamas or a robe or whatever you like, but you really need it." Not just because he'd been hiding in here all week, either -- he was still sporting some dirt and dried blood in places where Shimenawa hadn't been able to wipe it off. The sheets on the bed right now were going to need a _lot _of washing.

"You could get in the hot tub," Kakashi suggested idly, tail swishing around their sheet-covered legs as he played with a button on Obito's shirt.

"...hot tub? When'd we get a hot tub?" Obito blinked, "Geez, I gotta get my ass kicked more often. Did the hot tub come from the same place the taiyaki did? Wait, don't answer that. I'm not sure I'd be okay with my food and my bathroom appliances coming from the same place." He pulled the blankets off and shifted himself to the edge of the bed before holding his hand out to Kakashi, smiling faintly. "Help me to the bathroom then, Kakashi? We should make up a bubble bath jutsu."

"There's already bubble bath and... stuff." Kakashi couldn't resist casting a single mournful glance at the cake, but then slid forward off the bed to pull one of Obito's arms around his shoulder, folding his other arm back across the taller boy's waist and leaning Obito's weight against himself with all the graceful ease of a veteran shinobi. "There's bath pearls and a rubber ducky," he rambled as they slowly made their way past the two men in the doorway and out into the hall, "and Sensei's soap smells like vanilla and the water stain in the ceiling's gone..."

"But a bubble bath jutsu would be _fun_," Obito protested all the same, "Bubbles, any time we wanted with just a little bit of chakra! C'mon, Kakashi! Don't tell me you're not genius enough to figure out how anymore!"

Shimenawa let out a quiet, relieved sigh as he watched them walk over to the bathroom. The sight of Shimenawa looking not-worried for once made Kumo smile and he rested his hand on the other's shoulder, giving him a light, reassuring squeeze.

"Those boys bounce back better than a monkey on a bungee cord," he mused, ever creative and outright strange with his analogies. He pressed a little kiss into the blonde's soft hair, sliding his hand down to slip into Shimenawa's. "You holding up okay still, Sunshine?"

Shimenawa's smile widened at the touch, and he turned to lean his head against the other man's shoulder for a moment, sighing contentedly again as he squeezed Kumo's hand. "Just fine now," he replied. It was... very nice to be physically affectionate like this. Oh, certainly, if he wanted a hug either Kakashi or Obito would oblige him anytime, but there was a little more to such things sometimes, and Shimenawa hadn't quite realized just how much he'd missed having someone around that he could just cuddle with at random. And perhaps other things too... he wouldn't, he thought, mind trying out that new hot tub together...

The thought made him blink a little. Oh, he'd almost forgotten... _almost. _

"Good to hear, Sunshine. Let's see if we can't make that a step up from 'just fine', yeah?" he laughed quietly, a tease in his voice vaguely masking the light suggestion. Back before Shimenawa knew the way Kumo felt, Kumo wouldn't have thought twice about sneaking a kiss off the blonde's neck or cheek or nose but these days it was different, somehow. The kisses meant something, and they meant something to more than him and that made it a little bit scary. That was all that stopped him from trailing kisses down his Sunshine's neck the way he wanted to. Every day since the day the joking stopped being joking he'd told himself he'd get over it tomorrow. Hadn't happened yet.

"Hmm. That might be nice." Shimenawa gave a brief, coy smile, one rather lacking in his usual embarrassment about these sorts of topics. "But, before that, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about..."

He paused to scratch his head a little, expression turning abashed.

"Um, not that I don't appreciate all the hard work you've been doing, it's all turned out really nice, but... could I maybe persuade you to stop remodeling my house for a while?" he requested sheepishly.

"Ah." Kumo laughed a little nervously, momentarily glancing away. "Yeah. I've been, uh, meaning to stop but it's hard to keep busy around here between the kids and," he gestured towards the clinic, "the other kids and my hands... get away from me sometimes, I guess. I'm a lot less used to staying still than I thought."

"Well, there's certainly worse things you could do to keep busy. But I keep stepping in rooms and not being sure I'm in the right house. Or losing my stairs," came Shimenawa's reply, accompanied by a brief laugh.

"I don't know... maybe you should try getting out of the house for a while, going and messing around in town or something? I know your leg's still healing up, but you've been getting over to the hardware store okay," the doctor observed wryly.

"Yeah, I'm good at making up for incapacitated limbs," Kumo grinned, pondering Shimenawa's suggestion, "Hey, you know, I'm only twenty-seven. I'm still young! Maybe I should start hitting up the clubs again."

For a moment, Shimenawa just had to stop and be impressed by Kumo's amazing ability to make absolutely anything sound dirty. Shaking his head with a grin, he tugged on the other man's hand and headed off in the general direction of the living room.

"You'd certainly have an interesting time going clubbing with a cast on your leg," he observed, glancing back to raise an eyebrow at said cast as they walked the short length down the hall.

"You think I can't do it, Sunshine?" Kumo pressed as he kept up with Shimenawa, limping along, "It'd be a lot easier if my cast wasn't the size of a small car, but since it can't be helped I'll just make it a fashion statement and see if I don't end up with more numbers than a calendar come the end of the night." Then he thought about what he was saying and fought the urge to smash his face into the wall.

'_He's your _boyfriend_, you dumbass! Stop talking about flirting with other people!_' He coughed a little once he stopped grimacing at himself.

"...y'know, maybe I'll go volunteer at the pet shelter instead."

Shimenawa stopped for a second, blinking surprisedly at the other man, and then gave a slightly awkward grin. It was probably better to just not comment; he was sure it was only reflex on Kumo's part, anyway.

"Yes, and save some cats out of trees and help little old ladies across the street while you're at it," he replied with a little laugh, not quite able to resist the teasing. Much as he loved the man, Kumo and benevolent volunteer work just didn't quite fit together in his mind.

"If you felt up to it... maybe you could go somewhere with Kakashi?" the man mused as they settled down in the living room again. "Like the aquarium or... something. He seems to have been getting more used to you lately," the doctor observed brightly.

"Hey, I happen to like animals. Well, okay, I like dogs. Cats kind of stare at me and walk off, but _dogs_, there are some fine animals," he paused thoughtfully, "Unless we're talking Tsume's dogs. Those mutts were kind of freaky. But--huh? Me? Take Kakashi out? I... uh... huh... I guess I could do that." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Be easier if I knew why he's terrified of me."

Shimenawa pursed his lips a little, kicking off his house slippers as he settled back against the couch. He paused and _almost _spoke for a moment, before stopping himself and taking a deep breath.

"I'm not saying you don't have the right to have this conversation, but I would really appreciate if we could wait for a week when I'm a little less tired," he murmured, looking up at the other man with a sheepish smile and feeling, even if he was justified, nevertheless rather whiny.

"Of course, Sunshine," Kumo conceded at once, reaching out to stroke Shimenawa's hair gently, "Forget I mentioned it. I know it's gotta be tough for you. I don't know why, but knowing it's tough for you is enough for me to want to forget about it and just let it be, but... it's hard, y'know? With the way Kakashi looks at me and the way Obito looks at me when he thinks I'm not looking. I'd just like to know what I did and if I'm getting what I deserve for it." He closed his eyes and sighed then, tilting his head back.

"...but the way everything's pointing, I think I probably am so maybe there's no point in finding out anyway."

"I really don't think you need to worry about it." Shimenawa planted a brief kiss on the other man's lips before leaning lazily against Kumo's shoulder again. "The past is past. Even if you knew every little thing about it, I don't think we'd magically be able to fix things now. You can't really fix dying."

He sighed quietly and stared off toward the coffee table for a little while, before shaking his head slightly and deciding it was time to move onto something else before they ended up having this conversation anyway. Now what could he think of to make Kumo feel better...?

"Anyway. After the boys are done in the bathroom... how do you feel about trying out the hot tub together? Enjoy the fruits of your labor and all that," he suggested with a _very _cheerful smile. Up until a couple weeks ago, he hadn't given much thought to the idea of having a significant other in his life, but lately he was starting to feel rather enthusiastic about having a boyfriend...

"Why, Sunshine," Kumo grinned back, sliding his arms around Shimenawa before all but pulling the other into his lap, "I thought you'd never ask." There was a short pause as Kumo's smile turned a little playful and he did his best to look innocent (which was a red flag of him being anything but) before he brought his lips close to Shimenawa's ears and continued.

"In fact, I was so convinced you'd never ask that I bought you a spa set to bribe you with and it has everything from bath salts to massage oil in it," he laughed quietly in a low voice before he gave Shimenawa's neck a small nuzzle, "And it came with a rubber ducky. I thought that was a nice touch." Over-the-top was the flavor of the day, because Shimenawa needed to do more smiling now that he'd started again.

"Really?" Shimenawa blinked -- he felt a little bad about all the money Kumo had spent on what could be considered his behalf already, considering all the improvements made to the house -- but couldn't help laughing a little.

"Well, I guess you can't really have a _proper _bath without a rubber ducky." He turned around to give Kumo a slightly awkward backwards kiss, and then smiled slightly sheepishly.

"Thank you for all of this," he said, sounding a little embarrassed.

"Sunshine, I've been raking in hazard pay for the past ten years and spent maybe a couple thousand ryou on clothes total," Kumo grinned and ruffled Shimenawa's hair, "My money's been rotting in an account that has you as the co-signer for when I finally got myself killed. I have to say that getting to spoil you with it while I'm still alive is a little bit more awesome than that plan."

"You _what?_" Shimenawa frowned at him, looking a little shocked. "I don't remember ever... ...no, never mind, I probably don't want to know," he concluded with a laugh, shaking his head. He shifted around a little, carefully avoiding Kumo's cast, so he could wrap his own arms around the other man.

"You _really _didn't have to," and he sounded embarrassed again, shaking his head a little in disbelief, "but, well... I appreciate the thought. And you're not _going _to get killed, so you can stick around to spend some of it on yourself, all right?" he said with a sniff and a pointed raise of his eyebrows.

"Of course I didn't. That's what made it worth the money," Kumo laughed, then shook his head and shrugged, "I'm not a lots-of-stuff sort of guy, Sunshine. If it doesn't fit in my bag I don't want or need it. But I wouldn't say no to dragging you out to some really fancy restaurant sometime. And hey, there's the vacation fund if you ever get the time off."

"Really fancy restaurants often serve food that actually has nutritional value, are you sure you're okay with that?" Shimenawa smirked a little, giving Kumo another light kiss somewhere around his jaw as he reached up to twine his arms around the man's neck.

"You don't need to spend money on me to make me happy, though," he said, expression fading back into a contented smile as he nestled his head under Kumo's chin. "I'd just as soon take a walk in the park with you, or by the river or something. Or stay here just like this."

Kumo was silent for a little while before he found Shimenawa's hands with his own and held on to them, holding the doctor almost fiercely to his chest. "Sunshine," he whispered, voice the slightest bit scratchy, "I..." He lost track of his words and shook his head before simply leaning down to press a long, lingering kiss on Shimenawa's lips. And that was all he really had to say.

Shimenawa just smiled up at him as their lips parted, and rested his head against Kumo again, and seriously considered falling asleep here. Because it just felt that good.

"I'm glad you came back," he murmured, with a contented sigh. "Killer cake and all."

"Yeah, Sunshine?" Kumo smiled, "Well, me too."


	19. Chapter 19

Second Sight

We're back! Obito-mun's completely broke now, so she's not going anywhere for a while. :D;;;; So we should be back to our regular schedule once she manages to catch up in sleep. Thanks for being patient with us!

_Chapter Nineteen_

By the following morning, things were much better. For everyone. No new projects were started by Kumo, Obito came out to eat breakfast with them, Kakashi stopped lurking and Shimenawa could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn't to last, though, because even though Obito had spent the entire last week resting, he still had to lean on walls to make his way around the house. The injuries he'd sustained from his father were slow to heal, and he was running out of time before he had to go back to work. Deciding something had to be done, Shimenawa pulled Kumo aside to ask him for the small favor of taking Kakashi out until dinner so that Shimenawa could have some time alone with Obito. With an expression that implied that Shimenawa might as well have asked him to go castrate himself, Kumo agreed and went off to face the music.

And because the easiest way to get Obito's guard down to broach tough subjects with him was to feed him, there was only one last thing standing between Shimenawa and guaranteed success. What to make for lunch.

"Obito! Food!" he called into the living room a few minutes before noon, the smell of cheese and tomatoes, eggs and fresh rice wafting in through the kitchen doorway. He hadn't made omelet rice in a while, so he'd decided to try something a little fancy, with two different kinds of sauce and a garnish of fried prawn on top. It looked rather pleasingly tasty laid out on the table, if he did say so himself.

"Do you want tea or shall I just pour us some juice?" he inquired of the boy, who was currently sitting on the couch enduring boring daytime TV.

"Juice please!" Obito piped happily as he was reaching the end of his being able to be morbidly amused by so-and-so leaving whats-her-face for the fifth time this season. Not to mention the show was so old Obito wouldn't've been surprised to learn it'd been airing back when he was still an Uchiha. He pulled himself off the couch and slowly made his way into the kitchen, body still too sore here and there to go any faster. Once he got into the kitchen, he looked at the food all starry-eyed and all but floated to the table. He'd almost forgotten how amazing Shimenawa's cooking was.

"It looks amazing, Sensei!" he sang as he settled himself down in one of the chairs, casting Shimenawa his best eager puppy look.

"Glad you approve," the doctor replied, beaming as he headed for the fridge. Two tall glasses of apple juice later, he returned to settle into his own seat on the opposite side of the table. "And here you go," he said as he leaned over to set one down in front of Obito.

_Now, how exactly am I going to go about this... _Perhaps it would be best to wait until he was full and happy. Shimenawa didn't want to see the food go to waste halfway through, not least because at the moment, Obito still really needed the calories.

It didn't take long, the waiting. Obito didn't quite inhale food the way he did before, but he ate in hearty bites. He seemed to actually _taste_ the dish going down, which was probably an improvement on his old habits. By the time his plate was empty, he was all smiles and bubbly thoughts, flopping down against the table with his hands on his arms.

"That was really good, Sensei!" he beamed, licking his lips, "You should make it more often. And make more of it. So I can sneak snacks in the middle of the night and... is everything okay, Sensei? You look all... thoughtful."

"Hm? Yeah." Shimenawa smiled at him, even while he was inwardly sighing. He supposed he'd better just get this over with. "Glad you liked it! If it's that good, maybe you won't even notice if I sneak in more vegetables next time," he posited with a grin. Pausing for a moment, he reached over to sip at his glass of juice.

"Now that you mention it, though, there is something I want to talk to you about."

Oh _no._ Shimenawa was using his Parent voice. That never boded well for Obito. Reaching for his juice, he cuddled it in his hands and took a nervous sip before meeting his sensei's eyes again.

"Oh, huh, is that so?" he smiled, trying to pretend he wasn't inwardly panicking, "What about, Sensei?"

"Well..."

Did he tackle this slowly, or did he plunge in...? Taking a deep breath, Shimenawa tried to think about how best to phrase this. Not that Obito was going to be happy with it any way he said it, but still.

"You know you've been here for a little over a week now, right...?" he began, setting his glass back down on the table. He looked up at Obito with a kind, slightly apologetic expression. "Your work is going to be looking for you -- of course I called them and talked to them a little bit, but you can only stay away for so long, and, well, you're healing up pretty slowly. Even once you're able to move around all right again, I'm not sure it's going to be wise for you to do any heavy lifting or strenuous exercise for a good long while."

Obito blinked slowly, then sighed. He should have seen this coming. Knowing Shimenawa was only trying to help, he sat up and crossed his arms over his chest, swinging his legs a little.

"How am I supposed to pay bills and stuff if I quit my job, Sensei?" he asked as he glanced in the general direction their apartment was, "And buy food and stuff like that. It's not like Kakashi can get a job and there's not much else I'm good at. Retail doesn't pay enough."

"Well, if you were really in dire straits, you could probably just make a very loud suggestion within earshot of Kakashi," Shimenawa suggested with a weak laugh. There wasn't really anything he could say that wouldn't grate on the boy. He knew Obito wanted to be independent, or perhaps more accurately, to not be a burden to his sensei; but Shimenawa really didn't mind. His boys might as well have been his own kids -- they were probably as close as he was going to come to _having _kids in this lifetime, considering that his future was looking gayer and gayer by the day -- and when your own kids were in trouble, you didn't just throw them away to fend for themselves. You stood by and supported them until they could get back on their feet and stand tall again.

"But... you're welcome here, you know."

Shimenawa paused for a moment, a gentle smile on his face.

"Actually I've recently been informed that I am apparently the co-signer on a bank account with a not-inconsiderable amount of savings put away," and he stopped to scratch his head a little abashedly, "and between that and the clinic, I think it would be more than enough to take care of all of us. There'd even be money for college, if you were to decide you wanted to go back," he added rather pointedly, beaming.

"But Sensei," Obito sighed in something like a whine, "I'm eighteen now and... oh, no, not college again. I can't go back. If I do one more math class I'll kill myself and that won't make anyone happy. Why don't I just join the army like Kumo or something?" He sounded a little bit like he was muttering to himself now. "Because I have all the chakra of a bag of chips, that's why..."

"Then don't take math classes?" Shimenawa shrugged. "It's no use majoring in something that doesn't interest you. There's got to be some kind of career you'd enjoy...? What do you think you'd really like to do?"

"I dunno, Sensei," Obito shrugged as well, "My hobbies are eating, eating, chasing after loopy fox demons, eating, setting things on fire, and eating. I really don't see how that ever translates to a career."

"Umm..."

Shimenawa glanced away thoughtfully. After a moment, he grinned a little.

"Well, have you ever thought about learning how to cook?"

"...I tried when I was thirteen or something, remember? Our dinner crawled away."

"I remember," Shimenawa said, stifling a laugh behind his hand, "but you're a lot older than thirteen now. I think you could do it, if you were interested -- the beginning of cooking is really just learning how to read instructions, you know," he said, smiling. "And if you had tough homework, well, I do happen to know a thing or two myself..."

He picked up his glass of juice again, shaking his head a little. "I'm not saying you have to. But it's something to think about, right?"

Obito frowned thoughtfully before giving a slow nod before a slightly up-to-something smile crept onto his face. "Could you maybe... teach me a little before I tried to do that so I don't walk in feeling like a total idiot? And, uh, we can eat the stuff we make too, right? I think you should hold classes and let Kumo help. ...purely for academic purposes, of course."

Shimenawa's grin returned as he took another gulp of juice.

"Naturally," he said with a quiet laugh. "I don't think I really have the time for teaching classes, but I'd be happy to have private lessons with you."

"That sounds kinda suggestive, Sensei," Obito teased with a bright smile, "I'm going to tell Kumo you were hitting on me."

"_What--_" Shimenawa nearly choked on his apple juice, going a little red. "I didn't mean -- _Obitoooo,_" he pouted, "don't be cruel to your poor Sensei."

"Awww, I'm sorry Sensei," Obito giggled at Shimenawa's pout, which he was impossibly fond of, "I'll just leave that up to your new boyfriend. I always figured you were kind of Kakashi's replacement dad, but this kind of makes you his mom, doesn't it?"

"_No, _it means that he has _two _dads," came the indignant reply. "I'm not a girl yet," Shimenawa protested with wounded pride, though from his despairing expression he wasn't quite sure how long it was going to be before he started sprouting boobs.

"Don't worry, Sensei. You can be my mom too. I haven't had a decent one in a long time," Obito smiled in a not terribly reassuring way. He sat back in his chair with a quiet sigh.

"I wonder what Kakashi'n his dad are up to. I hope they're okay."

Of course, 'okay' was a very relative word. Emotionally and mentally, Kumo and Kakashi were doing okay. Physically, they were a little bit worse for wear than when they had had left. At the moment Obito was wondering about them, the two former Hatakes were running around the forests surrounding Konoha playing ninja tag. Of course, ninja tag didn't really involve getting close enough to touch. It meant hitting the other person (or persons) involved with whatever means possible (jutsu, throwing weapons, entire trees), switching roles, rinse, repeat. There were no rules, because it was _ninja_ tag after all, which gave Kakashi an advantage because nothing stated he couldn't poof into fox form/use his Sharingan to zero in on exactly where Kumo was, not to mention Kumo was still in a cast, but it was all (mostly) fun and games so it didn't matter.

"Gotcha!" an entirely out of breath Kumo finally grinned as he caught Kakashi in one of the dozens of pitfall traps he'd made over the course of the game to try to catch the light-footed little bastard. Kakashi was entirely too good at spotting Kumo's traps. He hopped down into the hole after Kakashi and tapped him on the forehead playfully before collapsing against the dirt wall to try to catch his breath.

"You want to go another round, Kakashi? I'm finally feeling my age, but I think I can still give you a challenge."

Kakashi, on the other hand, was _not _feeling his age, which was to say at the moment, he was feeling far more like a teenage shinobi than a several-thousand-year-old fox. The physical exertion was really very nice -- being able to focus his thoughts on giving Kumo a challenge while still holding back enough to match the man's slight handicap kept him very much in the here and now, and for the moment, he'd been able to not dwell quite so much on just _who _he was doing all the sparring with.

"If you want," the kitsune answered, sprawled good-naturedly on his back where he'd landed in the pitfall trap, clothes slightly askew and tail swishing over his legs. He had a coat and scarf lying around here somewhere, but had finally grown warm enough with their exertions that he'd shed them for the moment.

"Just don't strain anything or Sensei will have kittens," he remarked brightly as he sat up, idly twirling a kunai he'd stolen from Kumo around one finger. Though the other man didn't really notice, the kitsune seemed significantly more together than normal.

"Don't I know it," Kumo laughed with a shake of his head, "I had to grow up with that man. Just let an old man catch his breath before we get going again." He sat himself down the best he could with the cast over his leg and kept on breathing heavily, feeling his muscles burn like they hadn't since he caught that train ride home. It felt good the way a cup of hot chocolate felt good on an icy winter day.

"So, you like this then, Kakashi?" Kumo asked thoughtfully after he'd settled himself down, "Sunshine wanted me to take you to an aquarium, but I thought, y'know, it'd be easier for us to bond over something that's more common ground for us. The most I know about fish is when they show up on my plate at dinner time."

"...Aquarium?" Kakashi blinked and looked a little perplexed as he idly swung the ring end of the kunai around to balance atop one finger. "Don't think I've ever seen one."

With a flick of his hand the little knife was in the air again and he caught it by the handle. He tilted his head slightly to one side as he regarded it contemplatively.

"Like it..." He appeared to think about it a moment, and then gave up with a shrug, not looking too concerned about the matter. "I dunno. I'm good at it."

With another lazy flick of the wrist, he tossed the kunai end-over-end back in Kumo's direction. "It's good to _move,_" he said with another shrug, as if that was as close as he could get to describing his feelings on the subject.

"Ah, well, I love it," Kumo grinned, waiting for the kunai to nearly strike him before he caught the blade between his index and middle fingers, "I practically lived for it before Sunshine convinced me to settle down. Running missions, surviving only through your skills and determination, pushing your body to the limits and then some... Don't think there's anything quite like it in the world. It makes me feel so good some days I think I could really die for it and it'd still feel good." He shrugged a little sheepishly. "But that's just me. I guess ninja were made a little differently in your day." That felt a little odd to say, Kakashi being his kid and all.

"It does sound kind of neat when you put it like that," Kakashi concluded contemplatively, leaning back against the earth wall of the pit trap with a little puff of dust. He glanced up toward the white winter sky over their heads with a curious expression.

"...Guess I never thought about it. It's just... what you do. Or something," he said, mumbling half to himself, tail patting idly against the earth.

After a moment, he pulled the _other _stolen kunai out from under his shirt. He stared at it for a while as he balanced it on his finger again, quieting.

...oh. Yeah.

"You taught me how to do this," he murmured as it occurred to him.

"Did I?" Kumo looked amused at the notion, "It's one of my favorite tricks, but I have to say I think you've got it down better than me. Did I teach you anything else cool?"

"Where to hit the jugular without making a mess," the kitsune said without skipping a beat, head cocked to one side again, gaze staring past his finger to somewhere that no longer existed in reality. "Then I practiced on Tanaka-san's cat and you got really mad. I never killed any other cats," he added suddenly, turning a piercing, slightly wide-eyed gaze on Kumo's face. "I like cats."

"Sounds like I wasn't too shabby of a dad," Kumo sighed out with a nod, "And yeah, killing cats is bad, kid. But I don't imagine there was much else to practice on." He paused then, looking vaguely troubled as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"...do you even want me to be your dad, Kakashi?" he asked slowly, having a hard time making the question sound right, "I mean... We're... almost strangers and I've never really thought of myself as dad material but I really want to try for you because... I don't know, because Sunshine says I fucked you up last time around and I want to try to fix things. Fixing something when you don't know what's broken isn't easy, you know? And I haven't really thought too much about what you want, I guess. So... if you don't want me to try so hard being someone I'm not anymore, go ahead and tell me now, okay? Or else I'm going to feel silly."

Kakashi blinked up at the man with brow furrowed slightly in confusion. The kunai wavered atop his finger, and he caught it by the ring without looking.

"But... you _are _Daddy. You're not _not _Daddy unless you're... not..."

He turned the frown down on his own lap, one hand reaching up toward his left eye, stopping an inch or two away.

"...it still works right, right...?" he mumbled to himself. Fluttered his eyelids a few times, looked up at Kumo, looked down again. Frowned some more.

"You are, aren't you...? I still see... no, maybe it's not really there, or it left or it w--... I just thought... Did I make him go away...?"

He didn't quite notice when the kunai slipped out of his fingers to plop down on the dirt.

"H-hey, kid," Kumo's eyes widened as he hauled himself to his feet and took a few steps toward the boy, holding his arms out awkwardly, "No, no, I'm your dad. Or was. Or am. Hatake Sakumo, right? Name's still Sakumo, still got the same eyes and face and," he tugged his mask down, "hair, when I don't dye it. I'm just asking if you want me to _act_ like I'm your dad, I guess? But I'm still me and you--" Something buzzed into Sakumo's head.

"--you're still my little cuspid." It was a stupid joke and a really bad pet name, but it had worked for them when Kakashi was little. He'd been so darling, all of three feet in height and wanting to be just like his daddy. And Sakumo had been Konoha's White Fang, which left Kakashi to be his little cuspid who would grow up to be just like him and... what had he been thinking about just now?

Kakashi blinked down at the ground for a moment. Glanced back up at Kumo. Blinked some more. And then smiled, looking a little spacey but at least sincere.

"Oh. Good."

But then he frowned a little, pausing for a moment. "...Aren't I big enough to be an incisor yet?" the kitsune asked, pouting slightly.

"Uh, sure?" Kumo blinked, not entirely sure what he was agreeing to. They were talking about teeth now? When had that happened? Maybe it _was_ time to be heading back if Kumo was going to start forgetting things that had happened seconds ago. He made a note to ask Shimenawa about it and whether or not it was anything serious later because the feeling in itself was seriously freaky.

"You hungry yet?" he asked instead, "It's not quite dinner time yet, but I could sneak you a snack as long as we keep it a secret from Sunshine. Word has it you like inarizushi."

Kakashi's eyes grew _very _wide, and he tried not too look too overenthusiastic as he nodded.

"It's a deal, then," Kumo nodded before gesturing to the world above, "I'll lead, yeah?" He tugged his mask back over his nose before launching himself out of the pit, waiting at the edge for Kakashi to follow. Then the two of them headed back for Konoha, Kumo off-handedly describing his favorite place to get sushi in the city. It was a bit of a walk, but what was a little distance to shinobi like them?

Once they had arrived and were seated, Kumo poked a menu in the general direction of Kakashi and grinned at him, pointing to where the inarizushi was listed.

"Knock yourself out, okay, kid? As much as you want."

Kakashi picked up the menu and regarded it thoughtfully for a moment before standing it up atop the table, leaning close to hide his face behind it up to his nose as he regarded Kumo seriously.

"Are you really _really _sure about that?" came the solemn question.

"Keep it under ten thousand ryou?" Kumo laughed in return, "I shouldn't spoil you because that's bad parenting. Sunshine would tell me that. But you know what, kid? You need a break, if only through gratuitous amounts of inarizushi."

Oh, yeah. It was Daddy.

He'd halfway forgotten for a second.

As Kakashi thought about it, looking down at the menu again (he ducked his head so all that Kumo could see was the shock of silver-white hair sticking over the top), he observed that that was... kind of...

...what was he worried about? There was... was badstuff but he. Kind of. Couldn't quite see it. He thought 'Daddy' and he remembered a big hand correcting his kunai grip, a white ponytail that he chased through the trees. A tatami mat with a hole _don't move your hands don't they'll all come_ stop-- stop it. _Stop it.  
_  
He took a deep breath and frowned. And. Wanted inarizushi, dangit.

"...Three platters?" he requested a little shyly as he looked back over the menu. "We can... take Sensei and Obito some."

"Better order a few more than that if we're buying for your boyfriend too," Kumo grinned encouragingly, "Sunshine eats like a hen so I'm not too worried about him. How about five, then? Two for you, two for your boy, one for me and the missus to share."

"...'kay," Kakashi agreed with a nod, glancing down at the menu one more time before he closed it to plop it back down on the table. He wiggled his tail under his coat with excited impatience. _Inarizushi. _There wasn't much in the world that made the fox in him happier. Except maybe catching frogs. But it was a very close call.

The waitress gave them a sort of quizzical stare when Kumo put in the order for six platters of inarizushi, but she wrote it down all the same. It took a little while for their food to arrive, most probably because of the sheer amount of it that had to be made and when it came it didn't entirely all fit on their table, but Kakashi looked happy and that was good enough for Kumo. He picked up a single inarizushi and nibbled at its skin, not all that hungry himself. He was content enough to watch Kakashi eat.

Kakashi didn't waste any time. In a matter of a minute or two he'd all but inhaled half a platter at a speed that would have made Obito proud, with not even a glance at the container of disposable chopsticks sitting on the corner of the table, simply picking up the fried-tofu-wrapped morsels and popping them into his mouth one after the other. He slowed down after a certain point and actually stopped to chew a little, expression blissful as he bit a piece in half.

"...not hungry?" he ventured as he looked up to notice Kumo's comparatively full plate, with a tone of voice that made it clear he simply couldn't understand how anyone could be _not _hungry for inarizushi.

"Nah. Watching you eat is enough to make me feel full," Kumo teased, "That's the way food should be enjoyed. It's what my mom used to say. She was a housewife, loved it too. She always made me sit at the table and eat real slow, so I could appreciate the food. Told me some sob story about how farmers have to pick each individual grain of rice or whatever so my bowl of rice at dinner's someone else's whole day of hard work. I know it's all bull now, but I still clean my bowl out." For a moment, Kumo thought about how odd it was that his mom wasn't Kakashi's grandmother and how Kakashi's grandmother had been his mother but not but was but he didn't remember her at all... but then it got too complicated for him and he stopped thinking about it.

"But anyway," he shook his head to get himself back on track, "you can have some of mine, too, if you want."

"...Really?" For a moment Kakashi positively beamed at the man, looking quite happily surprised. Then he paused to glance down at his own plate for a moment, and his expression fell ever so slightly. "Sensei'll be mad if I throw up, though," he concluded with a slightly mournful sigh.

"Ah, yeah, don't make yourself sick, kid. It'll be my skin too," Kumo agreed, then leaned forward a bit to touch the side of Kakashi's face, "But don't look so sad. We'll pack it all up and you can eat the rest later. Sound good?"

Kakashi smiled a little at the touch and gave an enthusiastic nod, and reached down to grab another piece of sushi to poke into his mouth. He sat there for a moment chewing contemplatively.

"So... we should go see Obito and Sensei," he concluded after he'd swallowed, reaching for his water glass.

"Yeah, they're probably missing us by now," Kumo nodded, digging around his pocket for his wallet. He signaled the waitress for their bill and carry-out boxes and left her about a two thousand ryou tip because he couldn't be bothered to ask for change. Once they'd packed everything up, he looped the bag that held their sushi around his wrist, took Kakashi's hand with his free one, and led him out of the restaurant.

"We should do this again sometime," he mused to the open sky as they stepped outside, smiling in a content sort of way. Being a dad wasn't half bad, even if your kid was a some-thousand year old fox demon who acted as though he were mentally twelve most days. "Would you like that, Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked down at the hand holding his own, and was quiet for a moment. Then he glanced away again, and started to swing their conjoined hands between them slowly as they walked down the street.

"Um..." He paused, trying to convince his brain to work right. The words were failing him and he was a little... was...

Well.

The kitsune sighed, and pursed his lips a little nervously, and glanced over at Kumo's face. He smiled another small, shy smile.

"...Yeah," he murmured as he looked away again.That smile... Sakumo blinked and there was a little boy standing in Kakashi's place, a little boy with a shock of white hair that looked not unlike a dandelion puff, a little boy so little he had to stretch his arm all the way up to hold Sakumo's hand. And the little boy smiled that same, bashful smile that always won ladies over for Sakumo. Not that he felt any passing need to court any of them. He had Kakashi, and that little boy was all he needed in the world. He'd do anything to keep his baby boy happy, anything to make sure his son made it in the world.

Kumo blinked again and wondered why he was staring somewhere around Kakashi's knees before pulling his gaze up again, smiling a little bit dazedly back.

"That's good, kid," he responded quietly in return, "That's good."

They walked hand in hand the entire way home.


	20. Chapter 20

Second Sight

_Chapter Twenty_

Back at the house, Shimenawa had started on dinner, encouraging Obito to camp out in the kitchen with him and see how it was done. When the weekend was over, he'd have to open up shop again -- really, the clinic had been closed or on reduced hours far too often lately; it was not only bad for his finances, but rather irresponsible to the clients that trusted Shimenawa with their children's care -- but for now, he had some free time to spend with what, he supposed, he could call his family after a fashion, and he intended to make the most of it.

"Feel like a movie?" he mused cheerfully in Obito's direction, piling some steamed veggies onto a platter as he stood at the counter. "We could rent something."

"..." Obito was staring sullenly at the steamed veggies before he perked slightly at the mention of renting movies. "Okay! I want--" Past and present Obitos collided just then, and up became down. Left became right. White became black and night became day. Something along those lines, in Obito's mind at least. Thoughts became... un-thoughts. After agonizing seconds of staring into the space before him with increasing discontent, he finally cast Shimenawa a little defeated pout.

"...they don't make zombie ninja movies, do they?"

The doctor laughed a little as he finished, and then started over to the oven to check on the fish he had baking. "I guess we could go with a zombie movie and then a ninja movie?" Though for some reason he couldn't quite place, it pinged him as maybe a bad idea to let Kakashi watch a zombie movie. Perhaps he would arrange some kind of distraction.

"Could I persuade you to set the table for me?" he requested as he glanced back again with a cheerful smile. "Sit down if you get tired, of course."

"I can still set the _table_," Obito whined at Shimenawa's Grievous Underestimation of Obito's Amazing Abilities. Proving his words, he all but strutted over to the counter to get dishes and utensils and cups and napkins, all of which he managed to balance in his arms in one go. The cups were held between his arms and his body, the utensils in his one hand, the plates in the other. The napkins he sandwiched between his chin and his neck. (Obito was brilliantly lazy like that). He carried them all to the table, shockingly without incident, and even managed to get everything mostly in the right place. (Even if the settings were a little lopsided here and there and Kumo's place seemed to be missing a spoon.)

"Anything else, Sensei?"

"Um, I don't think so..."

Much to Obito's dismay, further veggies and a mound of bagged lettuce began appearing on the counter as Shimenawa put together fixings for a side salad. He frowned down thoughtfully at the tomatoes for a moment before going to the fridge again to grab a bottle of dressing. "I guess if you want you could put on some tea or..."

Blinking, he stopped at the counter and set the bottle down. "...Actually, we ran out of tea this morning, didn't we? Well, that won't do."

He frowned dubiously down at the veggies sitting out on the counter for a moment before glancing back at Obito.

"I think I'll go out and get some, all right? Be right back," he said, turning and heading for the door.

"Um, okay, Sensei. Have a safe trip," Obito responded a bit awkwardly as he watched Shimenawa go. Normally he was errand boy, but since he still couldn't walk very far... He sighed and sat down at the table to wait. He'd just have to make up for it all by being extra helpful once he was better. Maybe. If he could be bothered. Relaxing wasn't so bad, actually. Might as well take advantage of it. Obito was still reasoning with himself when he heard the door open again.

"Did you forget something, Sen--oh! Kakashi!" he grinned, then added as an afterthought, "Kumo! Welcome back!"

Kakashi beamed at the other boy, abandoning Kumo's side to go plop down on the floor next to Obito's chair. "Hi," he offered briefly.

"Gee, thanks," Kumo drawled dryly, rolling his eyes. He set the enormous bag he was carrying down on the table, and quickly distracted himself with the foodstuffs. "Is that dinner I see? Hey, where did Sunshine go in the middle of cooking?"

"We ran out of tea so he went to go get some," Obito replied with a shrug, "You guys didn't see him on your way in? He just left. Maybe he's doing some of his flashing-jutsu stuff. He _did_ say 'be right back'." Kumo coughed suspiciously at 'flashing jutsu' and Obito went a little bit off-color at his cough. Trying to look innocent and full of pure thoughts, Kumo all be flounced over to the counter where the ingredients for the yet to be assembled salad were.

"Is that a salad kit I spot? If Sunshine's going to be gone, I should give him a hand with this stuff. Kakashi? Wanna get a plate for the inarizushi while I make some salad magic?" he grinned. Obito perked at the mention of inarizushi and glanced toward the ginormous bag Kumo had set down when they walked in.

"Is... is that _all_ inarizushi?" he asked Kakashi incredulously, distracted and entirely missing that Kumo, meanwhile, was looking around for knives without success.

"It's only the part I _didn't _eat," the kitsune informed Obito in reply, looking, if possible, perhaps a little _too _cheerful. A moment later he absently rose and walked over to Sensei's cabinets... if he remembered right... did he remember right? He thought the big dishes were in... here. Amazingly as he opened the cabinet door he found he was correct, and pulled out two large plates to lay out the sushi on, walking over to set them atop the table next to the bag. Obito busied himself with helping Kakashi arrange the little pieces of sushi in fun patterns, fighting the urge to make the shape of something lewd and vulgar.

On Kumo's end, there were still no knives to be found. He'd checked all the drawers except the locked one, because he didn't imagine Shimenawa would appreciate Kumo breaking into his things in the event that was the doctor's secret lingerie drawer rather than the knife drawer. He promptly gave up after he was sure he'd checked everything once because he was a _ninja_, goddamnit. He would be dead long before he was ever without something sharp and pointy. He disappeared briefly to find his bag of worldly possessions and returned with his heirloom of a tantou. Hand crafted by a master blacksmith, coveted by his great-great grandfather, passed down to him through the generations, worn and battle-scarred, a testament of ancient times and great battles... now reduced to hacking off Kumo's hair when it grew too long, whittling branches when Kumo was bored, and... cutting vegetables. Somewhere, Kubutsu Katsuo was rolling around in his grave.

"Here we go!" he grinned triumphantly, unsheathing the trusty little blade to get started on the lettuce.

Kakashi's attention was caught by the exclamation, and he looked up to see Kumo holding the tantou blade aloft, facing away from the pair of boys as he began to work. The blade came down on the cutting board with a sharp _thwack, _and Kakashi flinched a little.

Daddy was holding his tantou.

_..."Daddy, can I see?"_

_"Careful, kiddo, it's sharp. Don't drop it on your foot."_

_"'m not a _baby, _I can_

_pull it out of him cept he won't let go why won't his hands let go why are there insides out on the outside don't come out don'tcomeout put them back in daddy wake up please--_

Kakashi went very still as he watched the tantou flash in Kumo's hands.

"Kakashi?" Obito blinked a the other's sudden change of behavior, looking up from the inarizushi fort he had been making, "What's--" He turned to follow Kakashi's gaze to what Kumo was doing--

"Oh _no._"

Kumo looked over at them at that, moving on from the lettuce to gut a couple tomatoes to dice and garnish the salad with. His hand stilled.

"What's wrong?"

Kakashi was still barely aware of what was going on around him; he took a reflexive step back as he registered Obito's voice, accidentally banging against the edge of the table with a jarring clatter of glass and dishes. His gaze was fixed on the tantou in Kumo's hand, expression far away and looking increasingly fearful.

"Daddy..." He began mumbling to himself, not entirely loudly enough to be intelligible, as he sunk to the floor, one hand absently groping backwards for the table edge as though to hold him up.

"...said not... it's sharp..." _why did you put it there oh god take it out daddy don't put it there _

"Don't play with... ...you said..." He pulled his legs up against his body with a faint whimper, the top of his silver-white head brushing the edge of the table.

"Kakashi?" Kumo asked, sounding completely lost, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Put it _away!_" Obito hissed at him angrily, getting up from his seat so quickly that he knocked the chair off balance and clattered to the floor. "Goddamnit, are you _stupid?_ Put it away!" He started for Kumo, trying to get across the kitchen quickly, faster than he should have tried to ask of his ankles so soon. His legs almost gave out under him as his hands closed around the hand Kumo was holding the tantou in and he ran into the other man harder than he intended to. Kumo stopped thinking roughly the moment Obito collided with him and grabbed for his weapon, gripping the boy's wrist instinctively before flipping him to the floor. Obito landed with a sharp cry of pain. His hand must have caught on the tantou at some point of the half second ordeal because it was gashed badly in the palm. He held it to his chest, startled but no less angry.

"_Put the goddamned sword away!_"

"Obito!?" came an answering shout from somewhere else in the house, and Shimenawa rushed into the kitchen doorway with plastic shopping bag in hand. "Are you all right? What's--"

He froze as he took in the tableau in the kitchen, looking back and forth wide-eyed at Kumo and Obito and Kakashi curled up on the floor.

"What's going on?" he finished after a second, a little tensely.

Kakashi gave another quiet whimper and crawled underneath the table.

"Shit," Kumo swore, realizing what he'd done to Obito only as Shimenawa walked in. He dropped the tantou into the sink before pressing a trembling hand against his forehead. "I don't know, Sunshine. Kid freaked out. And... and... Obito tried to take my tantou. I reacted badly. Shouldn't've. But I did. And." He stopped, biting down on his lip as he tried to contain his frustration and anger at himself and confusion and the spike of fear that had yet to let him go. When he couldn't, he kicked his heel into the counter behind him violently, cursing loudly.

"God _damnit!_"

Obito only continued to nurse his hand while going between glaring at Kumo and casting helpless looks at Kakashi.

"It's all right--" Shimenawa held out a hand toward Kumo and took a deep breath and resisted the urge to start rubbing his temples at the _instant _headache that had sprung up. "Just -- calm down, okay?" He glanced between the three of them again and swallowed, and walked over to grab a dishcloth lying folded next to the sink, putting a hand on Kumo's shoulder for a moment with a worried frown. Kumo flinched away from his touch, then moved away when he realized it, grabbing his tantou out of the sink as he left for the bedroom. He locked the door behind him for all the good it would do him in a house full of ninja.

Sighing a little, Shimenawa turned around. "Obito," he said, walking over to crouch next to the boy, "let me fix you up and we'll take care of Kakashi." He didn't wait for an answer, reaching out to take Obito's bleeding hand and summoning healing chakra into one of his own. He could hear Kakashi mumbling to himself unintelligibly under the table, and tried without success to tune it out as he sealed up the wound and quickly started wiping up some of the blood.

As Obito saw his hand was healed, he slowly but insistently pulled it away from Shimenawa so he could crawl to Kakashi's side.

"I've got him, Sensei," he mumbled, covering one of Kakashi's hands with his own, "Go see why _your_ boyfriend flipped out or something." He stopped acting and talking like a sullen teenager when he turned his full attention on Kakashi.

"Kakashi?" he whispered quietly. This was beginning to become a process for them, which was so profoundly sad that Obito thought he might cry. "Can you hear me, Kakashi? It's Obito."

Kakashi was rocking back and forth a little, curled up tight with arms pulled close around his folded-up legs. His hand flexed a little underneath Obito's but he didn't appear to recognize the other boy's presence, still sitting there with lips moving faintly in what had ceased to be audible words as he stared toward the floor.

"Look at me, Kakashi," Obito whispered. Then, with more urgency, he gripped Kakashi's shoulders, giving him a single shake. "_Kakashi._ Look at me. Everything's okay! Your dad's _dumb as all fuck_, but he's alive and everything's _fine_. Okay? Don't you remember me? I'm your amazing and wonderful boyfriend, and the best Uchiha ever. And I'm a thousand times the ninja you are, too." Obito's plan was to keep poking until he found the old Kakashi. He'd never tried it before, but bragging had always worked at getting Kakashi to acknowledge him (if only to put him down) before.

Kakashi shivered for a second, nails digging very hard into the sides of his arms as Obito shook him.

_Daddy -- please -- pleasepleasewakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup_

Daddy... was touching him.

...not Daddy.

Not-daddy touched him.

Not who...?

_it was __**all wrong **__take it out don't put it there let go I will surpass you._

_And I'm a thousand times the ninja you are, too._

_I didn't get you a present, jerk!_

Kakashi stilled slightly, tail whipping around his feet, breathing ragged. The world around him seemed to slow down again, just a little.

"Kakashi?" Obito asked again, voice uncertain. He wasn't sure if he was getting through, so he kept pushing. "One of these days, I'm going to really kick your ass sparring. Then you'll see. I could've totally been a Jounin if I wanted. I just wanted to, uh... well, I didn't want to hog the spotlight, that's it. Because I'm so inherently amazing, I don't need to hold an impressive rank like you do."

'_Disagree with me, damnit!_' (Satan was probably having a very cold day down there.)

There was... was _Obitosmell _all around him. Kakashi uncurled a little as the memories kept chasing themselves around his head, the dojo at night and Obito and killing daddy and daddy was dead but he was alive now but, but _Obito. _Was being his stupid prat self and saying stupid shit and Kakashi just knew he was going to get himself in deep shit someday with his _stupid _overconfidence and stupid Obito-ness and Kakashi and Sensei and Rin wouldn't even be around to save him and he'd probably drop his kunai and cry like that time Kakashi punched him in the stomach, stupid crybaby.

He took a deep breath, and didn't quite understand why he felt so shaky.

"You'll never kick my ass..." he began with a faint disgruntled pout crossing his face as he slowly glanced up, because it seemed the natural thing to say, "in a thousand years... crybaby."

He didn't quite notice the tears pricking at the corners of his own eyes.

"W-will too..." Obito protested half-heartedly, trembling slightly for sheer relief. "Maybe not in a thousand years, but how about four?" He hugged Kakashi then, if only to prevent himself from hitting the other boy out of pure force of habit.

"I'll ask Sensei to start training me again and this time _I'll_ be his favorite 'cos he raised me mostly by himself this time and I was much more fun to be around," he sniffed, completely neglecting to mention how many times Shimenawa had to go to his middle school to talk to the principal/bail Obito out of jail once the boy was old enough to get arrested. Entirely superfluous details.

"Sensei doesn't have favorites, jerk," Kakashi mumbled, instinctively stretching his arms around Obito in return and somehow managing not to bump his head on the underside of the table as he laid it against the other boy's shoulder. He sniffed a little and rubbed as his eyes as he sat there, still breathing rather hard. "He's like freaking Buddha, he loves everybody."

Shimenawa, still standing in the middle of the kitchen watching, swallowed and grinned sheepishly and felt his own shaky sort of relief as the rather unusual instance of banter met his ears. Figuring Obito had things well in hand, he slipped quietly out of the room and made his way down the hall.

Kumo had retreated into the bathroom, taking out his frustrations on the tiled walls. By now his knuckles were badly bruised, chips of broken ceramic biting deeper into his skin each time he slammed his fist into the wall, but he ignored it. He was used to hurting himself, after all. He'd only been doing it since he walked through the doors of middle school. The way the tiles directly in front of him were cracked, his next project would probably be re-tiling Shimenawa's bathroom, but none of that was on his mind right now. He just wanted to know how things in this godforsaken house could go so wrong so damn _quickly_. How he could ruin an entire day by trying to make a _salad_. He knew it had everything to do with what Shimenawa wouldn't tell him, and that what it was was why Shimenawa wasn't telling him.

Mostly Kumo was furious at himself, for not being careful enough, for hurting Obito because he wasn't thinking because people who thought before they acted in the army _died_, even for whatever-the-hell he did to Kakashi to make him... make him... Kumo had never noticed how badly damaged that boy was before and he _should have_, because he'd seen it before. Kids who went on missions and never entirely came back because they'd been captured and made to pick which one of their friends died and had their bones slowly broken and were beaten and beaten and beaten until they broke. He should have been able to see the signs. So he was mostly angry at himself and only a little bit miffed at Shimenawa for not telling him what he'd done because if he'd known, he could have tried to step around the boy's triggers. But then, Kumo had spent most of his life misdirecting his anger. He hadn't quite grown out of that yet. So when he heard the door behind him open and didn't hear anyone come in, he knew Shimenawa had come to check up on him and drove his fist into the wall hard enough to make the nearby sink rattle, trying to warn the other to back off.

Shimenawa swallowed again, and didn't step any closer for now, but didn't leave either.

"This is not your fault. It was an accident and that's all," he said, as calmly and clearly as he could, over the meaty sound of fists continuing their pounding against his tiled walls.

"Shut _up_, Shimenawa," Kumo growled in the way he did only when he was exceptionally furious. The last time Kumo had called Shimenawa his given name out of anger, he had been detoxing and halfway out of his mind. "You know it's more than that. Don't give me that saint crap."

Shimenawa just gazed levelly toward the back of the other man's head, taking a deep breath. As ever, it was stranger than strange to hear his actual name from Kumo's lips. He'd been 'Sunshine' nearly as long as they'd known each other. Sure, when they first met it had been sarcastic, perhaps an expression of bitterness at finding such a cheery, optimistic disposition in one of the class misfits, who by all rights should have been as miserable as he was; but as time passed Kumo had come to use it with affection, and Shimenawa, in his own way, had always been fond of it. By now, hearing the man call him anything else was not simply an indication that Kumo was angry or generally in a bad way, but had come to be rather personally unsettling. Shimenawa's world was just not quite right when Kumo wasn't teasing him.

"You're not a saint, and I'm not a saint, but that doesn't make this anybody's fault," he continued as rationally as possible, mentally crossing his fingers. Some days he was able to talk Kumo down from moods like these, and some days he could only follow the man around and attempt damage control for whatever Kumo inevitably did to himself. He hoped today was the former rather than the latter. "Whatever happened in there, nobody had any way of knowing it would set Kakashi off."

Somehow it seemed profoundly unfair that his dinner was sitting in the kitchen burning right now.

"Don't lie to me," Kumo all but snarled, clenching both his hands at his sides, "Go ahead and pretend everything's puppies and daisies, but _don't you fucking lie to my face_. People have triggers, and if you've ever fought a war, you'd know it as well as I do. You know _exactly_ what sets Kakashi off, so go on and hold out on me and let me keep screwing everything up, but don't you _fucking_ lie to me."

"No. I don't." Shimenawa kept speaking calmly, though he couldn't quite help the faint twinge of offense he felt at the words. "To be perfectly frank, there are so many things that could potentially set him off that I couldn't make a list if I tried. A lot of the time I don't think it even needs a trigger at all, just thinking his own thoughts can do it to him. He's just... not right anymore, he hasn't been for a very long time..." It pained him to say it that way, so frankly, but... it was the bare, honest truth. Kakashi's mind did not work correctly. Very likely it never would again.

"You can't blame yourself for it." Now that Kumo had stilled a little, he dared to take a few steps forward, slowly. "A lot of stuff has happened to him over all this time." _Not just Hatake Sakumo killing himself, _he did not add. "It's been thousands of years for him."

The doctor stopped a couple paces away, sighing quietly.

"...I'm sorry. I know it's hard. And it's awful. If I knew a better way to help him, I would do it in a heartbeat. But all we can really do is... trial and error, I guess. Learn to live with him as he is. Even though it hurts," Shimenawa murmured.

"That's all fine and easy for you to say, isn't it?" Kumo retorted, voice quieter but no less hurt and upset, "You're not the one groping around in the dark because you're the only goddamned one who doesn't remember jack _shit_. At least you _know_ him. I barely know who he is. I barely know who any of you are. You grow up with someone and... I don't know any of you at all." He closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"You know me."

Shimenawa found his throat suddenly tight. "I swear... I..." He reached out to put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I'm still--"

"Don't _touch_ me!"

The first time, Kumo had flinched away. This time he recoiled, clamping one hand around Shimenawa's wrist, the other closing around the collar of the doctor's shirt. Kumo jerked Shimenawa toward him, then all but threw him into the wall, seizing both of his wrists to pin him there. Kumo was the kind of person who got physical once his words had failed him, though Shimenawa had never been on the receiving end before.

"You're still _what_, Shimenawa? The Sunshine I knew was always honest and told you the truth no matter how hard it was to hear. He let you know when you were being stupid and he tried to stop you and help you through it. My Sunshine got me off drugs and got me to try to do something with the goddamned life I kept trying to throw away because he saw something in it that I couldn't, and he managed it because he was real with me like no one else was. At least that's what I grew up believing." Kumo's voice was still angry and frustrated and hurt and everything it had been before now, but there was something else there. More than anything, he sounded betrayed. He leaned in close, close almost as though they were going to kiss, gaze locked with Shimenawa's eyes.

"You're not any of that. So I don't really know you at all. Because even now, Shimenawa? Right now? You're still not telling me what the _hell_," he tightened his grip at that, holding on to Shimenawa's wrists so tightly that any tighter and the bones there would be in danger of snapping, "I did to _my son!_"

_Fuck -- _Shimenawa turned his head to the side and tried to cough some air back into his lungs after the sudden impact -- took a deep breath and gritted his teeth against the pain and tried to think of something he could say, because this just _wasn't _the time, but the truth was there was never really going to _be _a time and he knew it, had known it all along, really. And this was against all better judgement but somehow--

He looked back up at the man and tried, really tried not to look angry or nasty or anything but calm as he said it, because Kumo was really just worried and sad and confused and he didn't mean it this way and none of it was really his fault, but the truth was, ever since that day, there had been a part of Shimenawa that couldn't help hating Hatake Sakumo.

"You killed yourself," he said quietly, meeting the other man's angry gaze with his own cool one. There was a faint edge of tension to his voice. "Kakashi was the first to find you. Hours before anyone else."

He paused. Let it sink in for a half second.

"Can you blame me for not wanting to tell you?"

There was a second's calm, a pause between the words being spoken before they were heard. Then Kumo released Shimenawa as though stung, pressing his hands to his temples as what normally was a faint buzz became something shrill and piercing.

That smile. That sweet, little boy smile. Sakumo took Kakashi grocery shopping and he was such a big boy, only a few months walking but carrying the bag of candy all by himself. He smiled that smile and won everyone's heart, but he wormed his way right into his father's soul. He would do anything, anything, _anything _to keep his boy smiling that way. War came. Five years old and his little boy wasn't a little boy anymore. Sakumo did his best but he never managed to stop being his impulsive, naively idealistic self. How could he have forgotten what it would do to Kakashi? But he couldn't take it back, wouldn't take it back. Even when his team stopped speaking to him. They were his friends. There were no regrets to be had because... because either way, he couldn't live with himself. He could have let them die and had to try to live with that, or he saved them and shamed his family name and had to live with that. Which he might have been able to do, but the damage wasn't limited to him. He couldn't ask Kakashi to bear that burden with him. Kakashi was too little, had too much to worry about, had come home covered in blood and Sakumo hadn't known what to do or tell him except teach him how to make sure there was less blood next time. Kakashi needed to be able to have a life, couldn't let himself get trapped by the shadow of his father's mistakes, and Sakumo would do anything, _anything_ to give his son the world. And that was it. Sakumo had been the best father he could have been, had given Kakashi everything he had and then had given up his life when there was nothing else left to give. He had been a good father, he _had_.

_But oh, god, Kakashi wasn't supposed to be there not yet not alone, don't look at your father this way, please, please, please, __**please**__, remember him carrying you on his shoulders and teaching you how to throw a kunai and taking you to look at the puppies and making a mess of the kitchen trying to put juice in your sippy cup but not this way, no, no, no, no, don't look at him this way, don't remember him like this._

Kumo felt sick, felt as though someone had just kicked him in the gut, hard. He remembered... remembered a sword and a little boy and a floor painted red with blood. He remembered the mutilated body of someone that looked too much like him. He didn't know or understand how it had come to that, wanted to know how he could have been enough of a fuck up to let his son _had Kakashi really been that little?_ find him.

"Why did I--" Kumo began, backing away from Shimenawa, covering his mouth with his hand. Then he shook his head. "No. Don't tell me. I--" --_don't want to hate myself any more than I do right now. I don't want to walk that line again_. "--have to go."

Shimenawa watched him wide-eyed, and suddenly the only coherent thought he could seem to manage was, _Oh god, what have I done._

As the other man turned to flee the bathroom he shot forward, bruised wrists and all-- "No, Kumo, wait, _please_--" and tried to grab him by the arm.

There was a flash in Kumo's eyes that might have been knee-jerk violence, but he bit it back. He'd hurt Shimenawa enough--_oh, fuck, Sunshine, what've I done to you_? Instead he stopped and almost managed to meet Shimenawa's eyes before he pulled his arm away, shaking his head.

"Do you remember the look on Kakashi's face?" he whispered, voice quiet and tired and just a little hoarse, "I remember it too. So I... I have to go, Sunshine. I'm sorry." _That I'm a coward and I run away from everything but I can't be here right now, can't be here ever again until I figure out how to fix something that can't be fixed._

Fuck. Just.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Shimenawa was the one who always fixed things.

Why wasn't there any way to fix any of this...?

He pursed his lips and tried to... _say _something, before the other man just walked away from him.

"...You know... you know I'm not going to stop you, but just..." He tried not to shout, far too near to tears for comfort, suddenly feeling very stupid. Oh, so stupid. Why had he said that? Why hadn't he just kept his mouth shut and let the other man kick him around until he came to his senses? That would have been easier to deal with by far.

"Just _come back,_" he demanded, gritting his teeth after he'd spoken, squinting angryworried against the stupid tears in his eyes. "And I don't mean in six months or six fucking years. Running away isn't going to fix this and you--" His horrid treacherous voice broke a little as he insisted the words--

"You _promised _me."

He let go of Kumo's arm, looked away as he rubbed at his aching wrist. God. What the hell was he doing. He could've found a way to fix this if he just hadn't...

"...Go away if you have to. Do what you have to. Don't bleed to death. Don't overdose. And don't you dare not come back."

Somehow, until now, he hadn't really realized that it hurt so much.

"...yeah, I did," Kumo softly answered, remembering the promise a little better than he cared to right now. But he wasn't worried about that bit, not really. That promise had been easy to make because he didn't need to think about keeping it. All he had to do was look at Shimenawa and he remembered exactly why he couldn't stay away. But right now, he couldn't be here. He'd hurt just about everyone and he needed time to think and breathe and he just needed to be by himself. So he swallowed, shook his head, and left the bathroom, left the bedroom, left the house through a window so he could continue being a coward and not see the boys on the way out.

Drinking until he died of alcohol poisoning didn't sound all that bad right now, but he had promised. And besides, killing himself didn't solve anything, he realized now. He'd probably just be even more of a screw up in his next life.

Shimenawa plopped down on the edge of the bathtub after Kumo walked out, and stared at the dust and bits of tile littering the floor and massaged his temples until he no longer felt in imminent danger of bursting out crying, and then walked off to the kitchen to throw half his stupid burned dinner in the trash.


	21. Chapter 21

Second Sight

_Chapter Twenty-one_

The fish was Kumo. Obito had decided that the moment he pulled it out of the oven. It was burnt around the edges and dead. That was sort of the way he would've liked the real Kumo to be, reincarnation of Kakashi's dad or not. Oh, once he had his katon jutsu back... Mmm, broiled Kubutsu Sakumo sounded good. He was still thinking to himself that the fish was Sakumo when he poked its cooked eye out with a chopstick, using the hand that Kumo had cut. Poke, poke, poke, _stab_. Sensei wouldn't mind. The fish was burnt anyway. He glanced back over at Kakashi after a little bit of tormenting the fish, smiling.

"Want to come poke the fish with me? It'll make you feel better, promise."

Maybe Obito was still alive because he had only technically aged past thirteen.

Kakashi was watching the bout of poking from where he'd curled up in a kitchen chair, head resting sideways next to an empty plate as he nibbled a little forlornly on a piece of inarizushi, swiped from one of the platters abandoned atop the table. He was feeling rather tired and shaky still, though perhaps a bit more lucid than usual. The tomoe of the Sharingan revolved slowly in place, and his tail swished back and forth against the chair legs as he continued his observation.

"'s already dead though," he mumbled around his food, stopping to swallow after a second, in response to the invitation. "Stuff doesn't get _more _dead. It just comes apart and stuff eats it."

"So? It still makes you feel better," Obito sniffed, working the chopstick under a fin before tearing the fin off completely. Within a few minutes, there was nothing discernibly fish-like in the baking pan anymore. Just a mess of black chips and white flakes and bones and crushed fins. Obito felt decidedly better, but was still rather hungry. The crisis hadn't really been able to take his appetite away. He paused to give Kakashi an exceptionally peculiar look, the kind where, right before his eyes, Kakashi ceased to be a boyfriend or a friend or a teammate or that slightly batty kitsune and started being a supermarket. He set the chopsticks down and moved back over to the table in a way that suggested that if Obito had a tail, it would have been wagging itself off at that point.

"Ne, Kakashi" he began, tugging on the other's tail, "_Someone_ should fix Sensei's dinner before he gets back so that he and I aren't really, really sad. I might starve to death otherwise. I'll just crawl into bed and waste away."

In a different mood, that might have been the end of that, but as it was, Kakashi just sniffed at him and made a rather unimpressed sort of little pout. "Would not. You'd just ask for more taiyaki."

...But, well. Sensei _would _be sad if his dinner was all messed up. And Sensei being sad was just... _sad. _He frowned slightly as he wiggled his tail against Obito's grip. (It kind of tickled a little.)

"...fine, so maybe I would. But maybe I'll starve to death just to show you can be and are wrong all the time," Obito pouted, enjoying pouting at Kakashi probably a little bit more than was exactly healthy. He gave Kakashi's tail another little pull for good measure as it wiggled in his hand before he turned away.

"But if you're going to condemn us to miserable, hungry existences, then fine. I'm gonna at least hide the fish so Sensei doesn't have to see how burnt it is." Or how much Obito had mutilated it. It was win-win.

The fish, as luck would have it, now seemed to be sitting atop the counter looking all crispy and tasty and as perfectly-done as if Shimenawa had been sitting next to the oven watching every second of its progress.

Kakashi picked up another inarizushi.

"...okay, the fish and I are going to the bathroom for some alone time," Obito grinned once he was done gaping. Because as useful as it was, god damn was Kakashi's ability to poof food out of nowhere unnerving.

"Obito, what are you scheming with my fish?" came the rather tired-sounding question all of a sudden, as Shimenawa appeared in the kitchen doorway. He looked over Obito's shoulder with a slight frown for a moment, one which turned into a blink of surprise as he noted the... frankly rather perfect state of his lamented dinner.

"Oh... did you get it out for me?"

"Uh, yeah," Obito nodded after a second because _technically _it was true. He felt a little bit helpless and a little bit useless because Shimenawa was always, always there for them no matter how awful things were and how much of a mess he and Kakashi managed to make and yet right now Shimenawa was obviously having a spectacularly terrible day and yet Obito didn't begin to know what to do for him.

"Are you, uh, hungry, Sensei?" he asked slightly awkwardly, offering Shimenawa a smile, "I'll put off my affair with your fish if you want some first. And look, Kakashi won't even get jealous that I'm tryng to cheat on him. He must have someone else. Maybe it's the inarizushi. I'll... I'll eat them all myself in a fit of passion, yeah! I want to see the police report for _that_."

Hey, just because Obito didn't begin to know what to do didn't mean he wouldn't take a completely random shot in the dark.

For a second, Shimenawa just blinked at him. And then he was shaking his head with a rather helpless grin, and walking over to ruffle the young man's hair, pulling him into an impulsive hug.

"Don't ever change, okay?" he murmured in Obito's ear as he pulled back, turning toward the counter. Truthfully, he'd lost most of his appetite, but it would be a shame to let such nice-looking fish just go to waste.

"Well..." he said with a slightly apologetic grin, grabbing some potholders and picking up the still-warm dish to carry it to the table, "it's a little late, but shall we have a bite to eat then...? Kakashi?" He crouched to meet the kitsune's line of sight after he'd set the food down. He suspected his efforts at cheerfulness weren't fooling anybody at the moment, but just hoped it didn't make Kakashi uncomfortable. "Want some dinner? How are you feeling?"

Kakashi was frowning slightly as he continued gazing sideways toward his teacher. Sensei smelled... all wrong. He smelled kind of madsadwrong and that was... was really weird and almost never happened and... well, it made Kakashi tireder just looking at him. Sensei wasn't supposed to be sad. Or especially not mad. It was really scary.

"...Sensei...?" he murmured in the way of a question, reaching out to briefly, lightly brush his fingers against the doctor's cheek.

"Ah--" Shimenawa managed another real smile this time, and tugged Kakashi upright to give the other boy his due as well, holding him close for a moment and stroking his hair softly.

"It's okay, Kakashi," he reassured quietly. "I'm okay."

It wasn't like he wasn't used to it... just him and the boys around. It wasn't like he wasn't used to Kumo _not_ being around. He'd manage. Things would be fine.

...Eventually, he guessed.

"All right, let's have something to eat," he said as he rose again, with a slightly sad smile and a very eloquent sigh as he took his place at the table.

"Yay eat!" Obito sang in not the best usage of grammar of his life, making his way back to the table as well. Once there he accidentally toppled over the two chairs that were normally for Kumo and himself. (Of course, the 'accidental' part was rather arguable.)

"Huh. Will you look at that. Kakashi, you're just going to have to give me your seat and sit in my lap."

Kakashi blinked at the other boy and frowned a little, glancing between him and the fallen chairs. You could really just... turn them back over, right? If they weren't glued to the floor or phased into another dimension or a figment of his imagination or secretly flat or but... they looked pretty real and there and...

...Obito's lap was very comfy.

"...I guess," he said with a little smile as he rose from his place, tail twining idly around his legs.

Shimenawa just shook his head and laughed quietly.

Obito grinned at Shimenawa's laugh before plopping down in Kakashi's chair, then pulled the kitsune into his lap to snuggle. What else could he possibly ask for? There was dinner, Kumo was gone, Kakashi was in his lap, and Sensei was laughing. Life was good. Only one thing could make life better. That being _eating_ the food, rather than staring at it.

"Okay, time for my revenge on the inarizushi!"

- - -

After that, a couple weeks passed in the Shimenawa household without much incident. Much to everyone's relief, Kakashi mostly stayed calmed down, and even managed a couple trips over to the apartment to grab some of his and Obito's clothes (during which excursions several pairs of Obito's underwear disappeared and one pair of his pants turned up missing a single leg, but otherwise everything went fine). Obito got more of his strength back, and alternated random helping around the house and TV-watching with nervous-glancing-with-maybe-the-eventual-intent-to-read of some local college course catalogs Shimenawa had brought him. And the doctor, for his own part, decided it was time to stop putting it off -- he needed a break from some of all the stress; he was going to have to hire a secretary. So he took out some wanted ads in a few local papers and put out word to a couple job agencies he knew, and then proceeded to steadfastly ignore the growing pile of unfinished paperwork scattered over his desk as he went about his daily business. It would... just give the new secretary something to do. Yes.

It was some time just after lunch when the bell to the clinic rang and a vaguely familiar young lady came in, a small gift bag in hand. She looked around the small waiting room/lobby curiously, wondering where everyone was.

"E-excuse me?" she called out. What a _mess_ everything was. It was almost appalling. Papers everywhere, nothing _resembling _order, magazines scattered about (and there was a copy of world news in the children's section, wasn't _that_ exciting) while the little bins for the magazines were empty. Half the toys were on the floor rather than in the toy chest. Without really meaning to, Shizune set down her little gift bag and began picking up the toys and organizing the magazines. _Honestly_. It was pretty much a reflex now, growing up the way she had. That one day she had walked into her former college professor's apartment and couldn't see the _floor_ under all the discarded clothes and random trash had ruined her for the rest of her life. Shizune couldn't look at a mess anymore without cleaning it up.

Once she finished picking up in the waiting room, she rubbed her neck a little embarrassedly before turning back to the glass window that looked into the front office.

"Hello?" she called out agan.

"Ah-- coming-- just a second, I'm sorry-- _Shit--_" came the sudden exclamation from the next room over, accompanied by a sharp _thump _and the clatter and rustle of what sounded like a box spilling its contents all over the floor. A single plastic-wrapped antibiotic sample came rolling into Shizune's view right at the edge of the doorway to the examination room.

"Hi," said Dr. Shimenawa, poking his head out with a sheepish smile, "I'm really sorry about--"

He stopped and blinked.

"Oh-- it's-- it's you," he managed with some surprise.

"Um... are you here about the job, by any chance?" He reached down with a sheepish grin to pick up the lone escaped sample. "Just a moment, let me clean up my mess, eheh."

"Ah!" Shizune exclaimed in surprise when she saw the slightly haggard looking doctor drop the box and worsen the general state of cleanliness of the clinic. "Here, let me help." Between the two of them, the samples found their way back into the box in a timely fashion, after which Shizune stood and offered her hand to help Shimenawa to his feet.

"Actually, I--" Looking at the state of things, she couldn't really bring herself to say she'd only come to apologize for the horribly misunderstanding at the hospital. She _had_ just quit her job there and, well, her father liked to tell her she was trying to work her way into becoming patron saint of hopeless causes and helpless people. She at least owed Shimenawa something in return for possibly worrying him out of his mind, and she suspected she would actually lose sleep if she left him the way he was.

"Um," she amended, offering him a slightly sheepish smile, "Do you have an opening, then?" She was too polite not to pretend that it wasn't glaringly obvious he needed help, and badly.

Shimenawa blinked at her surprisedly some more, and then smiled back, reaching over to set the box on a nearby shelf next to the wall. "Um, yeah. I'm looking for a full-time secretary," he said, gesturing toward another nearby door that led into his office, "basically to keep track of appointments and help me keep up with the legal paperwork, records, ordering supplies, that kind of thing. I run a pretty small practice so I've mostly always done everything by myself until now," he said as they walked in, pulling over a chair for Shizune before he sat down behind his desk, "but recently I've had some, er," he grinned slightly embarrassedly, "family problems, and my time's been divided a bit. So basically your job would be to help keep me sane," he summarized good-humoredly, leaning his elbows against the paper-strewn desk.

"Well, I've had a lot of practice doing all of that," Shizune smiled back, though hers bordered on a grimace as she recalled exactly how she came to get so much practice. "I can't really vouch for my success rates, though." She was about to set the gift bag down again when she realized she still had it in her hand.

"Oh! Sorry, I should have done this before," she looked a little embarrassed as she offered it to Shimenawa, "I'm not trying to butter you up or anything, I swear, but I did want to apologize for the fiasco in the hospital with your friend a while back. It was just a _really_ busy day."

"Ah-- thank you," the young doctor said, grinning abashedly in his turn as he took the gift. "You really didn't have to... And, ah, that's all right. I got a bit of a shock, but all's well that ends well," he concluded magnanimously, smiling again as he opened up the little gift bag. Okay, it wasn't the best of manners to just pop it open right then and there, but he was curious, dangit.

He grinned in sincere enjoyment as he pulled the gift out of the bag. It wasn't anything particularly special or pricey -- just a fat, slightly plain looking candle -- but it had the most wonderful scent of peaches as he gave it a sniff, and yes, the fact that he was actually quite flattered to receive such a present probably meant he had just said goodbye to the last hint of his masculinity, but well, it was awfully sweet of her.

"That smells really nice," he declared as he reached over to set the candle on the side of his desk, next to a small framed picture, with Kakashi and Obito leaning sleepily against each other on his couch. (He'd caught them by surprise that evening. It had been a fun evening.)

"I'm glad you like it," Shizune smiled as her attention was drawn to the picture, "Oh! Are they yours?" She paused to look at him, then at the picture, then back again. She wasn't _quite_ bold enough to suggest he didn't look nearly old enough to have kids that age.

"May as well be, I suppose," the doctor said with a quiet, fond laugh, and took a moment to be grateful Kakashi's tail wasn't immediately visible in the photo. One thing at a time, right? "This is Obito, and this is Kakashi," he said, pointing them out. "I guess you'd call me their... mentor? Family friend? They've... had a bit of a rough time of it, poor kids," he said vaguely, figuring Shizune would fill in her own story about abusive parents and broken homes, which at least in Obito's case wouldn't be far off the mark, "so I try to look out for them. If you stick around you'll probably get to meet them... Obito was in a bit of an accident, so they've been staying with me while he recovers. Oh," he said, blinking as he gestured vaguely off toward the back door of the office, "my house is just adjacent to the clinic here, by the way."

"I see," Shizune nodded, "They look like they're good kids." And probably had to be, the way Shimenawa was positively glowing about them. She did want to meet them she realized, then groaned inwardly. This was how it always started. A little bit of interest in a little side project and the next thing she knew she was mother and wife and therapist. Ah well, that was her lot in life.

"I, um, speaking of sticking around," she laughed a little bit at that, flipping through a folder she was carrying with her. She pulled out a copy of her resume and offered it to Shimenawa. "It's a little bit, ah, well, if anything confuses you... Well, I've been a career temp for the last three, four years of my life, ever since I got out of college because my... with my home situation, it's been hard for me to find a permanent arrangement. What was it that one interviewer said to me...? I'm too... distracted, I think? Or not focused enough? Something. But as a result, I have a lot of mostly useless experience. I can do anything from wash dishes to file paperwork." 'Home situation' was code for 'her ex-college professor Tsunade'.

"I see." Shimenawa took the paper, but before looking at it, smiled politely over at Shizune again as he asked, "So in that case, would you say staying in a position on a long-term basis is a problem for you...? Do you move a lot, or...?" She seemed like a very nice girl so far, but he really wasn't interested in training and acclimatizing someone who was just going to up and leave on him in a month or three, if he could avoid it at all.

"Oh, no, I don't move or anything. I just," Shizune flushed slightly, folding her hands in her lap, "Sometimes I can't give a lot of advance notice when I have to take care of things at home. I always try, but I can only give as much notice as my family gives me. What happens is usually my employers and I grow mutually tired of each other. That's why temp jobs usually work out better for me. There's not a lot of time for my work and me to come to odds. But none of that should be happening much anymore." ...mostly because Tsunade had skipped town about a week ago. She hadn't even _called_ yet. Sigh.

"Ah, all right," Shimenawa said with a slightly confused blink. So it wasn't something they couldn't necessarily work around, if it became a problem for her again... He glanced down at the resume, taking a few minutes to read through it carefully. There were a few references... should he take the time out to actually call them later?... eh. Somehow he had a good feeling about this girl.

"Well then," he said, pointing at a line on the resume sheet, "can I ask you about this?..."

He took not quite half an hour conducting an interview to his satisfaction, and decided the longer they talked that he quite liked Shizune. She seemed like a very sweet girl, and perfectly honestly, if he hadn't had Kumo to think about (if he still _did _have Kumo to think about, part of his mind muttered darkly), he might have been interested in her in more ways than one. She'd really fit in nicely here, he thought, assuming everything went well.

"And, I think that about wraps it up," he said at last, letting loose the copy of Shizune's resume to flutter down atop his desk and join the interminable pile of papers. "So," he said, smiling very brightly, "would you like to know what I think of you?"

"Hm?" Shizune asked semi-distractedly with the brightest smile she was capable of to try to mask over the fact that she was inwardly cringing at her resume adding to the disorder of the desk. Her time with Tsunade had obviously left her traumatized in some sense or another. "I mean, ah, of course!" She offered him an encouraging sort of smile, feeling at ease around Shimenawa despite wanting to tie him down so he couldn't make the mess in his office any worse while she completely overhauled it.

"I think you're perfect, is what I think," said the doctor, beaming. "I'd love for you to start as soon as you're available. The salary and the hours I mentioned in my ads are going to work for you, right?" he asked, just to make sure.

"That's wonderful!" Shizune actually sounded delighted, much to her own surprise. "I'm free as early as tomorrow, but, ah..." she trailed off, looking a little embarrassed once more, "I'm afraid I have to ask you to repeat the salary and hours. I only... skimmed the ad." She hated lying, but it sounded less awkward than to say she hadn't seen the ad at all and applied for the job only because she couldn't bear to see him go without help any longer.

"Oh? Um-- wait just a moment, I have it all written down here..." Amazingly, it didn't take Shimenawa longer than about five minutes to fight through the clutter on his desk for the paper he was looking for -- undoubtedly he owed this luck to the fact that it was very recent and therefore near the top. He handed the printout in question over to Shizune; it was a copy of the request he'd sent out to the job agencies, with general duties, hours, pay, and benefits all neatly outlined.

Mostly Shizune was concerned about knowing the hours and what was expected of her. She was used to her pay being next to nothing because she liked to think of herself as a very well-paid charity worker so nothing really would have disappointed her, but oh, what Shimenawa was offering would do quite nicely. She might even be able to put enough away to pay off some of Tsunade's gambling debts.

"Oh, yes, this is fine," she smiled, committing the contents of the printout to memory, "Do you have a uniform in mind or am I free to shop for my own scrubs?"

Shimenawa blinked. He hadn't even considered that. "Sure, pretty much whatever you want to wear is fine. If you're more comfortable in scrubs, that's great, but I don't mind if you come in wearing something more casual. You're my first employee, you know," he said with a laugh, "so you're probably going to get away with a lot of stuff."

"Well, you're far from my first employer so I'll do my best not to take advantage of you _too_ much," Shizune teased lightly in return, "I don't mind wearing scrubs. I saw some really cute ones in the store the other day, so I'll go shopping for something the kids will like tonight. I should get going to finish running my errands before the stores close... see you tomorrow, then?"

"Excellent." Shimenawa grinned as he rose from his seat again, feeling quite sincerely pleased. "Can you come by about lunchtime? I have an appointment at 11:30 and we can get started right after that."

"I'll be here," Shizune nodded, standing as well. She had the gut feeling that this was either the best decision she'd ever made in her life, or the worst. Or both, somehow. Ah, well, too late now. At least the doctor was cute, if not a little bit (lot) effeminate and slightly fruity. It was part of his charm.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Shimenawa-sensei," she smiled with a little bow, waving as she turned to leave. And then she was off to buy scrubs and search around a little more for word on Tsunade before going grocery shopping and finally going home to make a bite to eat. No rest for the weary. Ah, well, at least job hunting hadn't been nearly as difficult as she thought it would be.

-----

It was just going to be Shimenawa's day, it seemed.

Shortly after Shizune left glowing like she'd just lost her virginity all over again, a certain Kubutsu Sakumo was lurking outside the clinic, doing something between sulking, pacing, and staring down the front door. Over the past few weeks he'd gone jet skiing, hang gliding, snowboarding, and even mountain biking but none of it had done anything to him. At the end of the day, he still wanted to go home and curl up in Shimenawa's arms but he just _couldn't_ because... because he'd been so painfully stupid there was no way he could look Shimenawa in the eyes. He had presents for everyone. They were in a bag he was clutching to his chest. He just had to work up the nerve to knock on the door and deal with whoever answered and--oh fuck that. The only person he wanted to see right now was Shimenawa because Shimenawa was the only one he thought he could even begin to face. So he did what he did best and snuck around under the windows until he heard Shimenawa go into the bedroom for some reason or another, possibly to change after closing the clinic. Then he crawled back in through the window he'd crawled out of, trying his very best not to have an anxiety attack on the spot.

"...Sunshine?" he asked quietly, voice cracking slightly as he spoke because oh, fuck, he was nervous.

Shimenawa instantly dropped the shirt he was holding, not to mention the book he'd tucked under his arm. It thumped sharply against the floor as the blue button-down shirt drifted down to drape over it haphazardly.

He wasn't quite sure whether it was a good idea to turn around or not.

"Kumo...?" he murmured after a long moment, glancing back a little warily, as though half-worried that he was dreaming, or maybe just hallucinating from the stress. Perhaps Kakashi was wearing off on him.

He just blinked at the man for a second, a little wide-eyed and incredulous; and finally laughed just a little bit, and pursed his lips and furrowed his brow and smiled.

"...Hi," he murmured, feeling like the _good _kind of tired for the first time in a while.

"Hey," Kumo whispered back, actually managing a small smile as relief flooded through him. Shimenawa wasn't angry with him, even though he had every right to be. His Sunshine really was a saint.

"...I came back," he added after a second's thought, just in case Shimenawa hadn't noticed. Kumo was too busy being relieved to do much thinking right then.

Shimenawa laughed a little again, slightly giddy. "You came back," he agreed, and glanced between the man and the fallen objects for half a second before picking up the shirt to fling on the bed, and hesitating for a second, and then walking over to pull Kumo into a tight hug whether he liked it or not. "In one piece, even," he said against the other man's shoulder, voice wobbling just _slightly _with relief and an incredulous sort of happiness.

"Yeah, I tried to do stupid things while I was gone," Kumo began quietly, wrapping his arms around Shimenawa just as tightly in return, "but not having you around to scold me for them took all the flavor out of it." For a little while, he just let himself enjoy having Shimenawa in his arms again, enjoy the way the other felt in his arms and the sound of his breathing and the way he smelled--did Kumo detect the faint aroma of _peaches_?

"I... um," he laughed a little embarrassedly to himself, "I tried to find you an apology card, but apparently no one makes anything in the vein of 'I'm sorry I'm such a fuck-up', so I got you something else to help me grovel for your forgiveness instead."

"You don't have to grovel," Shimenawa murmured, turning his face downward against Kumo's neck as he pulled his arms up underneath the other man's to clutch at his shoulders. "Just don't... _move..._" because... because he didn't want Kumo to _go anywhere _really ever again if they could avoid it and because actually, if he was perfectly honest with himself, he felt a wee bit faint all of a sudden, god he was such a girl. Kumo was going to have him cooking dinner in a frilly pink apron yet, the ass.

Kumo was feeling a little bit faint himself, never having expected Shimenawa to miss him _that_ much. As far as he knew, he was the kind of guy everyone remembered but no one missed, which made him the perfect army man, but now... He let his backpack slip off his shoulder and drop to the ground, bringing his hands to Shimenawa's shoulders as well. Then he simply kissed his Sunshine, kissed him sweetly, then deeply, with as much passion and--_oh, god, I've missed you_--longing as he knew how. When his eyes closed, tears slipped out of his previously watering eyes and transfered on to Shimenawa's cheeks, but Kumo couldn't bring himself to care. So he was crying. His Sunshine was worth a few tears, was worth far more than a few, little tears.

It was a while before their lips parted, and Shimenawa smiled a little again as he stepped back slightly, wiping Kumo's tears off his cheeks and then, carefully, off Kumo's own. He couldn't even express the unimaginable relief he felt -- that Kumo was still okay, that he was still trying to take care of himself, that Shimenawa himself hadn't completely screwed everything up for good. He just paused, took a deep breath, and moved over a couple steps to flop down bonelessly on the bed, taking one of Kumo's hands with him.

"I'm really... really glad to see you," he said, smile widening a little, as he swallowed against a rather tight throat.

"I'm glad you're glad to see me," Kumo laughed quietly, crawling onto the bed after him, tugging the other into his arms once more because there was nothing he'd missed more than holding Shimenawa. "I was going to come back sooner but... I'm still the world's biggest coward and I didn't know if you were going to be mad at me or something so I... sat outside and tried to come up with the right things to say and... I don't know. I came up with something, but I guess I don't need it after all. Because I'm the luckiest man alive... and I think I've beat out a lot of the dead ones, too."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Shimenawa informed him, and laughed once, a little breathlessly, as he leaned his weight slightly against the other man. He slung an arm around Kumo again with a quiet sigh.

"Of course I'm not mad at you. It was as much my fault as it was anyone's... I could've thought of something less stupid to say. I've just been... worried," he admitted, knowing it tended to irritate Kumo to some extent, but it was the truth. Kumo had left behind the majority of his self-destructive habits from his younger years, but that didn't mean he was incapable of ever starting any of them up again, if provided with the right impetus. Shimenawa would do just about anything, he thought, if it meant not ever having to see the man anything but stable and safe and at least halfway happy, or well, at least anything better than the way he'd been in high school.

"No need to worry anymore," Kumo reassured, finding one of Shimenawa's hands with his own, "If I've learned anything these last few months, it's that getting yourself killed isn't likely to solve anything. I'd probably just be just as bad as a fuck-up in my next life, and I'd be without you. Best I can hope to do is get things right this time around while I've still got my very own angel." He pressed a kiss against Shimenawa's forehead then. "That's not to say I won't go sky diving or eat foods that are going to stop my heart, but no more cutting myself open for me. ... That make you feel any better, Sunshine?"

"Hm. Well." Shimenawa smiled an idle, slightly mischievous smile as he squeezed the other man's hand, gazing off thoughtfully in the general direction of the bedsheets. All the tension and worry of the past couple weeks not knowing what the hell Kumo might be doing just seemed to drain steadily out of him. "I suppose you have my permission as a qualified medical professional to _occasionally _eat foods that are going to give you a heart attack, _if _you make me cookies."

He paused and shifted so his head was resting in the crook of Kumo's neck again, blonde hair tickling the other man's nose, and gave a quiet sigh.

"And it does, in fact," he murmured, still smiling.

"Of course I'll make you cookies, Sunshine," Kumo laughed lightly back, running his hands along Shimenawa's sides, "but only once in a while because it'd be a crime to ruin your figure." It had been hard for him to omit the word 'girlish' before 'figure', but he managed. He was getting better. There was a thoughtful pause on Kumo's part.

"...now be honest with me, Sunshine," he began, voice no less light and somewhat teasing, "Have you been cheating on me while I've been gone?"

"Oh yes. Repeatedly. With your hot tub," Shimenawa said deadpan, poking Kumo gently in the chest. "We're planning on eloping next week." He didn't think to mention the new secretary -- it wasn't like he'd _actually _had any designs on her, after all.

"Ah, so not with the pretty young lady I saw flouncing out of the clinic earlier?" Kumo grinned, prodding back, "She's a little old to be a patient and a little too young to be a parent, isn't she?"

"Oh--" The doctor blinked and then grinned himself, a little abashedly, as he wondered just how long Kumo had been hanging around. "That's Shizune. I just hired her on as a secretary for the clinic, starting tomorrow. I think she'll be good with the kids," he added happily.

"Well, if she won _you_ over, she must be good with kids," Kumo agreed, giving Shimenawa a playful nuzzle.

"Somehow I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not," Shimenawa laughed, shifting around to give Kumo another quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sure it eventually translates to a compliment," Kumo joked back, catching Shimenawa's lips in a proper kiss before the other had a chance to fully retreat. They enjoyed it leisurely, Shimenawa humming in contentment against the other man's lips before he finally pulled back, and then slowly away, shifting toward the edge of the bed with a luxurious stretch.

"Mmm... well. Much as it would be nice to stay here all day long..." he began, glancing back toward Kumo slightly hesitantly, "it's about dinner time, you know, and um... the boys are still here?"

"Must you?" Kumo pouted, clinging to Shimenawa's middle, "Take a day off from being a mom. Tell Kakashi to magic some dinner and... and... Obito can eat the cakes I brought him."

"You brought cake?" Shimenawa laughed, momentarily resisting the urge to hug right back. "It doesn't have to take too long, but I don't want to just leave them to themselves in there. Obito still needs to replace a lot of nutrients, and who knows what Kakashi would conjure up. I don't want to bother him with it anyway." The always-scatterbrained kitsune didn't need anything else to confuse himself over, even if it was just the task of coming up with an evening meal Shimenawa would approve of. He had no idea what kind of toll using those powers might take on Kakashi, anyway.

"And besides, if you feel up to it..." He reached down to touch one of Kumo's hands again, speaking gently. "You should come say hi."

"...you didn't see Obito murdering the pillow after he wrote my name over the front of it in marker?" Kumo coughed a little nervously, shaking his head, "I'll wait in here. You... you can bring them their presents, if you'd like?" He found his backpack again and rummage through it until he found the box of small, decorative cakes he had bought at the fancy little cake shop in Rain country.

"That's for Obito... now what did I get for Kakashi again?" he mumbled to himself as he kept digging. His hands closed around something cold and plastic. "...a puppy-print sippy cup with... organic apple juice?" he gaped as he pulled it out, "_Why_ on earth did I get this for Kakashi? ..._when_ did I get this for Kakashi?" Slapping himself on the forehead with his palm, he shook his head and set the cup back down.

"I guess the boys can share the cakes if Obito can be bothered to?"

Shimenawa raised one slightly questioning brow at Kumo, but couldn't help laughing all the same. "Well, he gets juice out of the deal?" the doctor offered with a snicker as he picked up the proffered gifts, setting them down on the bed next to his lap. He glanced back at the other man one more time.

"Are you sure? You're going to have to do this eventually, you know," he murmured. "But if it's too much for right now, I understand. You can just hang out in here and I'll come back in a little bit and bring us some food too."

"I think I'll give Obito a few more days to get beating things named me into oblivion out of his system," Kumo smiled sheepishly, neglecting to mention that seeing Kakashi probably terrified him just as much as seeing him terrified Kakashi. "But yeah, I'll be here, Sunshine. I still gotta give you your present, so shoo. And come back soon."

"All right." Shimenawa shook his head and grinned a little as he picked up the unusual pair of presents, heading toward the bedroom door. "See you later, then. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he advised cheerfully, pushing the door partway open with his foot.

"Oh--" He turned back for a second, looking slightly embarrassed. "And um, if you need the toilet, you might want to sneak over to the one down the hall, the master bathroom is still a bit of a mess." He gave a small, apologetic smile before turning away again. "Later," he murmured as the door closed behind him.


	22. Chapter 22

Second Sight

_Chapter Twenty-two_

"Kakashi, c'mon," Obito was whining in the living room, curled up next to the kitsune on the couch, "tell me again. About that time I set our training grounds on fire." He had been doing this more or less the past week or so because Kakashi had been extremely worrying for at least that much time. Lately, Kakashi had been... forgetting exactly who he was. Some days he'd just be a little bit confused, others he'd be someone else completely, someone from a past life. And they didn't know if it was going to get better or worse and they didn't know why it was happening or how to make it stop. All Obito _did_ know was that it'd started awfully soon after Kumo had pulled his stupid shit and _oh once he got his hands on that man again, they'd go straight around his neck and--_

"Told you already," the kitsune pouted, interrupting Obito's violent train of thought. "Twice. Today." He swung his legs idly off the couch as he leaned against Obito's side, kind of halfway watching the sci-fi movie playing on the television. He wasn't really paying close enough attention to know just what was going on with the story, but the fight scenes were entertainingly silly.

"...I did, right?" he mumbled uncertainly after a second, mostly to himself, gaze flicking briefly down toward his lap.

"I guess you did. Fine, then tell me something else. I thought you used to like to tell me about the stupid things I'd done," Obito pouted, nuzzling Kakashi stubbornly, "You're free to tell me stories of my astonishing feats in battle too." At least Kakashi seemed okay right now, Obito noted with great relief. He was so caught up trying to make sure Kakashi was still Kakashi that he didn't even have the presence of mind to be hungry. (Kakashi's mental instability seemed to have finally become contagious.)

Kakashi stretched a little before shifting to snuggle closer to the other boy, feeling, for the moment, generally contented. This morning had been rather distressing, but now things were okay and he was _pretty _sure he was Kakashi and Kakashi existed and stuff and wasn't a figment of not-Kakashi's imagination or a complex post traumatic stress psychotic break dissociative hallucinatory state whatever they said and as long as he could keep reminding himself he was _definitely _there then -- everything was fine. He groped around the haze that was the inside of his head for a little while, rifling through disconnected images and random facts and half-complete memories to try and find something he recalled thoroughly enough to tell Obito about that wasn't like. Dying or being maimed or by himself or shoving his hand through someone's chest. Or something.

"D'you remember..." he began, blinking down at Obito's shirt. "Um... the candy lady? From Wind Country? And you barfed 'cos you stole all her mango licorice?"

It was just possible there was a certain _pattern _to the incidents Kakashi remembered clearly. Not that it was something he noticed.

"...I try not to," Obito managed slightly sheepishly, but it was at least kind of good that Kakashi remembered, even though it left Obito wondering _why_ Kakashi had to remember things like that. Well, technically he knew why, but... still.

"It was really good licorice, though. Mmm, I miss it," he added longingly, "You know what else was really good? The lychee jellies. Did you have any of those? Wait, no, you wouldn't have. You were all... _yourself_ back then."

"Did someone mention lychee jellies?"

As if summoned by the talk of candy, Shimenawa walked in from the hallway, beaming at the boys as they glanced back from their spot on the couch. The doctor gestured cheerfully in the direction of his closet sweet stash, with a hand that appeared to be holding a... large sippy cup? -- and he smiled as he adjusted a good-sized white box underneath his other arm.

"I've got a bag of those, you know," he said, walking over to stand next to the couch. "You can have some after dinner if you want. Though actually, I've got something here that you might like better..."

The doctor debated for a bare moment, before setting the box down in front of Obito with a mental shrug. Right before dinner maybe wasn't the best timing, but it _was _a present, after all. He let the boys have at it as he glanced down at the sippy cup he was holding and tried to decide just what the hell ought to be done with it -- why _had _Kumo bought Kakashi something like this, anyway...?

"..._oooh!_" Trust Obito to recognize a plain cake box right off the bat. He reached out for the box and began to hunt down all the little pieces of tape holding the box closed. "Cake? When did you have the time to get this, Sensei?" Then he paused to blink at the sippy cup in Shimenawa's hand. "...and what's that, Sensei? Are you babysitting for someone?" he asked, glancing around.

"...Um, no." Shimenawa grinned a little sheepishly. "It's organic apple juice... I'm, uh, actually not sure why the whole... well..." He blinked down at the cup and just trailed off, looking embarrassed as he set it down in front of Kakashi.

"Um... someone left them as gifts," he said quickly before Obito could make any comments -- it didn't seem wise to mention Kumo's presence in the house just yet -- and then immediately headed off toward the kitchen doorway. "I'm going to make dinner, okay? So try to leave some room!" And with that, he was suddenly gone.

"Was it that lady you were flirting with, Sensei?" Obito called after him as he tried to not look _too_ interested in the juice, "Did you tell her we were your kids? How small does she think we are, Sensei?"

"I wasn't _flirting _with her," came back the indignant protest from the kitchen, followed by perhaps-louder-than-strictly-necessary vegetable chopping noises.

Kakashi just blinked quizzically at the food and drink on the coffee table for a moment, and then reached out to pick up the sippy cup. He _was _kind of thirsty. It was a weird-looking cup, but he had some vague memory that you held it with both hands, and for a moment he untwined from Obito accordingly to take a long gulp.

"...It's good," he decided, holding it out in offering to Obito.

There was something _profoundly_ distressing about being involved with someone who could drink out of a sippy cup and look completely natural doing it. Obito wasn't sure he could ever, _ever_ kiss Kakashi again without feeling like a complete pedophile. And yet he couldn't quite refuse the apple juice because it _did_ look awfully delicious. He glanced over at the kitchen to make sure Shimenawa wasn't coming before he took the cup from Kakashi and held it with just one hand as though that somehow made it better, but couldn't be bothered to actually unscrew the cap. He took a long drink himself before setting it into Kakashi's lap to pretend he had nothing to do with what just happened.

"It _is_ good," he agreed with a slightly awkward smile, "Cake now? Let me get the box open..."

Kakashi set the cup back on the table and scampered down out of Obito's lap to help him tear the tape off the sides of the box, and once Obito pulled the lid off, the assortment of cake petits fours inside proved to be... rather expensive-looking. Whoever had sent the present, it seemed they would spare no expense to impress.

"...can I have a chocolate one?" he requested, looking up at Obito a little shyly. Sensei had set it down in front of him, not Kakashi, so the kitsune figured if he got any at all it was really more of a privilege than a right.

"Go ahead! Help yourself," Obito nodded, pushing the box in Kakashi's general direction after seizing an orange one for himself. Mmm, citrus. He popped it into his mouth and melted back into the couch as the cake just about dissolved in his mouth. "Mmmm, tastes like... like... happiness in cake form. How's yours, Kakashi?"

Kakashi had picked out a brown one with chocolate shavings on top, and although it turned out to be more in the realm of coffee-flavored, it was still quite heavenly. "Good," he said with a blissful sigh, licking a bit of stray icing off his fingers and glancing down at the box with the thought of perhaps picking another one. "_Really _good."

Meanwhile in the kitchen, said Shimenawa was busy throwing together the quickest meal he'd been able to think up on short notice -- a little rice with sesame-salt topping, canned soup, carrot and celery sticks with dip (what he'd really wanted was a salad, but he was slightly afraid of weird reactions from Kumo), and because Obito always needed something a little extra, a plate of ham sandwiches. He hummed under his breath as he cut them into halves, enjoying the work of cooking as always, no matter how humble the dish.

"Here, you should have this one, too," Obito was conspiring against Shimenawa's dinner back in the living room, plucking a pretty little white cake out of the box to offer Kakashi, "It reminds me of you. And I'm going to eat the red-and-white one because it reminds me of being home. And then... I guess we can save the rest for after dinner." He could smell dinner cooking already and didn't think Shimenawa would appreciate it if they completely ruined their appetites.

Kakashi blinked down at the proffered cake for a moment and debated whether it was ethical to eat it, since if it was like him, and he ate him, that sort of made it cannibalism or masturbation or something or, wait, that wasn't quite right and he didn't really know anyway so... whatever. He accepted it with a sweet smile, nibbling at the icing on the edges before popping the piece into his mouth.

"...Oh. It's lemon." He blinked around a mouthful of cake for a second before he finished eating it. Was he lemon? ...y? What was that supposed to mean?

"...am I lemon flavored?" he frowned at Obito.

"Let me check," Obito grinned, leaning over to steal a kiss. He playfully licked Kakashi's lips when he pulled away, looking thoughtful. "Hmm... I _do_ detect a hint of lemon. I guess you're lemon flavored after all. What flavor am I, Kakashi?"

"Obito-flavored." Kakashi blinked quizzically, as though the fact ought to be obvious, and leaned over the table to give a quick kiss back. "...Also orange cinnamon," he observed, looking Obito close in the face for a second before he pulled away again. Well, it might have been a smell, not a taste, but close enough.

"Okay, I've got dinner!" Sensei called from the kitchen. Someone blew up a spaceship on the TV screen as he started carrying in food, setting down rice bowls next to the open cake box, then going for the soup, then drinks and a big plate with veggies and dip and sandwiches. He stopped to look amusedly at the half-empty sippy cup as he set down this last.

"Here you go. Try to _eat _some of the vegetables, okay?" Shimenawa requested, raising an eyebrow at Obito.

"...I make no promises," Obito warned as he prodded one of the celery stick experimentally, as though to see if it would poke back. Then he paused to blink up at Shimenawa as something occurred to him.

"Sensei? Aren't you eating with us?"

"Mm, I'm feeling kinda tired," Shimenawa replied, smiling apologetically. At least that part was true. "Thought I'd take something to my room and maybe read a little and go to bed early. I'm going to need my energy for tomorrow -- the lady from earlier is going to be the clinic's new secretary, she's supposed to come over so I can show her the ropes."

"Sensei..."

Kakashi picked up the sippy cup again, frowned at it slightly. He frowned over at the box of cake. And then he frowned up at Shimenawa.

"You smell like daddy," he observed, sounding a little confused.

"Huh?" Obito asked, sniffing the air as though he were trying to discern if Shimenawa did, in fact, smell like filthy, stupid, crisis-causing vagrant. Then he decided he couldn't smell anything but cake, but Kakashi's sense of smell was much better than his but these days Kakashi didn't necessarily exist exactly on the same plane as the rest of them but he _seemed _pretty sane right now but-- Obito decided to err on the side of paranoia like any good ex-shinobi, narrowing his eyes.

"...did _he_ come back, Sensei? Are you sneaking off to your room to... y'know. 'cause we can leave."

Shimenawa smiled a little, abashedly, and gave a small sigh. Oops.

"No, I'm sneaking off to my room because he's pretty tired too," _not to mention terrified of both of you, _"and we figured tonight we'd just let everybody try to relax a little. So don't worry about it right now. You should eat before your food gets cold." He turned back to head into the kitchen.

"Oh-- and-- the presents are from Kumo," Shimenawa added, glancing back with a raised eyebrow. "I think he felt like he needed to apologize."

"A couple cakes aren't going to make me forgive him," Obito grumbled, crossing his arms firmly over his chest in a truly Uchiha-esque fashion. He stared down at his stomach as though it had somehow betrayed him, frowning slightly. Then he sighed, sounding a little bit defeated.

"Thanks for dinner, Sensei," he added, acting a little more his age, "Enjoy your evening and stuff. We'll be good out here, just us and the couch fort we're gonna build after dinner. See you in the morning?" ...a _little_ more his age.

"I imagine I'll come check on you before then, but. Of course," Shimenawa smiled at them. "Just come knock on the bedroom door if you need anything." With that he disappeared into the kitchen again, going to pick up the tray he'd prepared for himself and Kumo.

Personally, Obito planned on staying as far away from that door as possible, but he wasn't about to stop Kakashi from bothering Shimenawa and Kumo if the thought occurred to the kitsune at some point. In the meantime, since there was nothing to be done about Kumo being in the house at present, Obito snuggled up with both his dinner and one of Kakashi's arms, perfectly content to pretend that Kumo was still missing-possibly-dead. It wasn't really a great position for eating from, but Kakashi didn't mind so much; he leaned against Obito's side and nibbled at a sandwich, tail swishing contentedly over their laps.

"Hey, Kakashi," Obito whispered into the kitsune's ear, "I'll give you extra cuddles after we make the couch fort if you eat all my vegetables and pretend that I ate them."

Kakashi pouted a little. "But there's too many." If he ate that whole big plate of vegetables he wouldn't have any room for soup. And it looked like good soup.

"'Sides, Sensei's trying to make you better." He frowned, picked up a single carrot stick, and held it up in front of Obito's mouth. "Eat _one?_" Sadly, it seemed that Kakashi and Obito still did not entirely agree on the subject of nutrition.

"...but it tastes like gross and good for me," Obito pouted, "It won't make me better. It'll _kill_ me. You don't want me dead, do you?" He knew on some level that he probably shouldn't confuse Kakashi's already tentative grasp on reality, but on some completely different level he didn't even realize he was being confusing. It was a wonder the two of them didn't manage to talk themselves out of existence.

"N-- _No_--" Wide-eyed, Kakashi snatched his hand away from Obito's face as though burned, frowning down at his lap with a rather guilty, worried expression. "No. Don't... don't die."

He popped the carrot stick in his mouth and chewed quite forlornly.

"...aw, Kakashi," Obito quickly amended, wrapping his arms around Kakashi's waist, "Hey, c'mon. I'm tougher than a _carrot stick_, silly. I'm not going to die. I'll..." He sighed, giving Kakashi a nuzzle.

"...I guess I'll have a carrot stick or something. But only if you feed me."

Kakashi blinked at him for a second, and then frowned down at the plate of veggies as though still worried it was sprouting poisonous-to-Obito substances as they spoke.

"Are you sure?"

"Mmhm," Obito sighed, pretty sure he'd much rather be getting a shot or something equally fun and exciting rather than facing eating just vegetables, but he imagined getting fed them by Kakashi would soften the blow. It was pretty much a childhood fantasy of his, though in most of these fantasies Kakashi was still rather sane and not in love with him and was feeding him assorted foods only because he'd finally realized how amazing Obito was.

Ah, well. Beggars couldn't really be choosers.

"Okay." Kakashi picked up a celery stick, twirled it in the dip -- Obito would probably like it better if it didn't taste quite so good for him -- and held it before Obito's mouth with a smile. Obito glared at it a little before reluctantly opening his mouth, biting off half the stick. He chewed with a fairly exaggerated grimace and swallowed, then tried to glared down the other half as well before he grudgingly finished it off.

"...is that good enough?" he asked once he'd washed away the horrible celery aftertaste with apple juice, wiping at his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

Kakashi's smile widened when Obito didn't immediately drop dead, and he reached down to the plate again, holding up a carrot to Obito's lips. "One more?"

"What?" Obito whimpered, but he relented. Because Kakashi was smiling, and... _sigh_. Kakashi's smile was worth torment in carrot-stick form.


	23. Chapter 23

Second Sight

Sorry for the delay! And, alas, another short-ish chapter. We'll do our best to make it up to you soon. Believe it or not, plot is still coming...

* * *

_Chapter Twenty-three_

While Shimenawa was cooking, Kumo had gone off and taken out all the broken tiles in the bathroom so he could fix the wall first thing in the morning. It had gone well, but in the process Kumo's clothes had gotten covered in ceramic dust. Rather than take all of that back to Shimenawa's bed with him, Kumo opted for simply stripping, tossing his clothes into the hamper. He had a few spares in his bag, and he could still hear cooking sounds coming from the kitchen so he had time. Yawning, he flopped down onto the bed with an exhausted sigh. It had been a long day.

Somewhere between laying down and rolling over to make a grab for his bag, Kumo, quite naked, drifted off.

"I'm back," came a cheerful voice from the other side of the door sometime later as Shimenawa returned, tray of food in hand. He held it carefully against his chest as he shifted around to grab the door handle, letting it fall open as he walked a few steps in. "Hope you don't--"

He stopped to blink at the completely naked apparition sprawled over the length of his bed, and grinned a little embarrassedly. Kumo's face was turned away from him; was the man asleep?

"Er... was this part of my present?" Shimenawa wondered quietly, laughing, as he walked over to carefully set the food down on the bedside table.

Kumo startled awake at the sound of Shimenawa's voice, turning a faint shade of pink as he realized he was no longer alone and certainly not dressed yet. He took it in stride enough, managing to get a sheet around the important bits as though he hadn't been naked for at least twenty percent of the years the two of them had spent together as boys.

"Only if you want it to be," he grinned sheepishly, "Sorry for the, uh, surprise. I meant to change, but I must've passed out."

"Quite all right. It's a very nice view," Shimenawa declared with an impish grin as he leaned over to kiss Kumo on the cheek, before flopping down next to him on the bed. "Hungry? I made soup and stuff."

"I'm always hungry for your cooking, Sunshine," Kumo smiled back, absently touching his cheek where Shimenawa's lips had been. "Even when it's good for me," he added decisively after a moment's pause as he reached for his share of the inviting food.

"Mmm," he complimented after the first bite, grinning playfully, "Tastes almost as good as you do."

Shimenawa flushed just a little bit red as he grinned, reaching over for his own rice bowl. "Thanks. It's just can soup and stuff, I was in a little bit of a hurry, but." He stopped to take a few bites of food himself, feeling rather hungry now.

"The boys seemed to like your presents," he remarked brightly, "even after I mentioned who they were from... Someone even drank the apple juice," he said, smile turning slightly teasing.

"Good to know," Kumo laughed once he'd swallowed, about halfway through his rice and at least a third of the way through his soup. "Oh!" he exclaimed then, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "Speaking of presents, I've still got yours, Sunshine. And for once, it's not in my pants. The pants I am not currently wearing."

Shimenawa laughed, picking up one of the cups of tea to sip at it. "You really didn't have to get me anything, you know."

"Haven't we had this conversation before?" Kumo teased, "Presents are presents because you don't need to give them. And this is a special present, Sunshine. I put deep thought into it and stuff. Meaning, of course, I asked the lady behind the counter what kind of present I should get my virtually perfect boyfriend and let her do most of the hard thinking for me."

Shimenawa was still a little red. "...Okay, I admit it, my curiosity is now piqued," the doctor said, putting down his teacup and raising an eyebrow at the other man. "Can I see?"

"The present or what's under the sheets?" Kumo grinned, then laughed quietly to himself as he leaned over to sift through his bag once more, hand closing around a small, black box. He took one of Shimenawa's hands and pressed the box into it, looking unusually uncertain of himself.

"You can't have both, m'kay? One's mine."

"Huh?" Shimenawa blinked at the odd statement for a moment before glancing down at the box. His brow furrowed slightly. This looked an awful lot like -- but, no, it couldn't possibly be what he was thinking... He flipped open the lid.

It was what he was thinking.

Inside a pair of plain platinum wedding bands, just slightly differing in size, lay gleaming silver atop the black velvet interior of the case, overlapping slightly as they rested in indentations in the material. Shimenawa reached out in stunned wonder to pluck one of them from the packaging, holding it up to the light, a little closer to his face. The interior was engraved with small script initials --

"K. S.," he murmured to himself, a slight involuntary smile crossing his lips. "Kubutsu Sakumo."

"Yours are there too," Kumo pointed out almost... shyly? It was strange to see the normally self-assured, almost cocky man tugging at the bedsheets nervously. He pointed to the rest of the inscription, the letters so finely etched that they were virtually invisible until turned in the light. "S. K., yeah?" he read aloud, "Shimenawa Kiyoshi. The lady told me to use our real names. By told me I mean she just about twisted my arm behind my back to get me to do it."

"Hm. We match," Shimenawa observed quietly, a thoughtful smile on his face. His expression turned more sober after a moment, though, as he looked up to meet Kumo's gaze.

"Are you... um... really sure about this?" he asked a little embarrassedly, grinning. "I mean... it hasn't been more than a couple of months. And. Well." His smile turned a little apologetic. "You might decide you want to go gallivanting off again... I don't want to be in your way..." And, if he was honest, he... god, he just wasn't quite sure what to think yet. Except that, just... he certainly couldn't ever picture a life without Kumo in it... not anymore. Not for a long time. He'd resigned himself to the idea back when Kumo went off to join the army and started not coming around for several years at a stretch, but now that he was back...

"Only a month or two?" Kumo mused as though thinking back, "Really? Because it's been half my life to me." He took one of Shimenawa's hands in his own and clasped his other over it, lightly touching their foreheads together. "You don't have to keep this one, Sunshine. If you're not sure. But to me?" Kumo paused to brush a kiss against the corner of Shimenawa's mouth.

"...to me, this ring means I never walk away again."

Kumo took the smaller of the rings from Shimenawa after he spoke, still grasping the other's hand in his own. He turned the ring in his fingers for a contemplative moment before giving Shimenawa a searching, offering look.

Shimenawa's hand slowly curled around Kumo's ring, and he gazed down at the matching one gripped between Kumo's outstretched fingers for a moment before leaning forward to kiss the other man slowly, full on the lips.

"I'm holding you to it," he murmured, and held out his hand.

For once, Kumo didn't say anything at all, only smiled a faint, fond sort of smile and nodded before he bowed his head. He brought one hand under Shimenawa's to steady it before slowly and carefully slipping the ring into place, focus trained on the ring as though it was the only thing in the world, as though this single task was his sole purpose for existing. His fingers lingered over the ring a few seconds more before he finally looked up and smiled an almost watery smile. He pressed a kiss against the back of Shimenawa's hand.

Shimenawa just smiled faintly, looking down at it for a second. A wedding ring. On his finger.

What a wonderfully peculiar thing.

He uncurled his other hand, then, and reached for one of Kumo's as he brought up the ring, stroking the man's skin idly with his thumb. "Shall I return the favor?" he wondered with a gentle smile.

"I'm already yours for life," Kumo teased lightly in return, holding out his own hand, "Might as well show the world."

Shimenawa's smile widened, and he reached forward to slowly, deliberately slide the ring over Kumo's finger, thinking about the sheer enormity of what was happening here. This morning he'd woke up not even knowing where Kumo was. This evening, he was effectively agreeing to spend the rest of his life with the man.

Not that it was much of a decision. A life without Kumo in it would have been terribly unsatisfying, anyway.

He looked up to meet the other man's gaze with a very irreverent little grin.

"May I kiss the bride?"

"I did promise to wear the dress, didn't I?" Kumo laughed with a slight shake of his head before he leaned in for the kiss, lingering no more than half a breath away to wait for Shimenawa to meet him. And then the other man's lips were against his again and Shimenawa was pressed closer, the fabric of his shirt sliding across Kumo's bare chest as he slid an arm around the top of the man's shoulder, letting his eyes fall half-closed as they drew it out, sweet and slow and languid. Shimenawa sighed in utter contentment when their lips finally parted, leaning down to rest his head against Kumo's opposite shoulder with what was probably a rather goofy smile.

"Thank you," he felt compelled to murmur, not quite understanding why but certainly meaning it. "For everything."

That first stupid day they'd met at school. Sitting with him in the lunchroom. Showing him the best way to sneak off campus. Making stupid bad-for-you heart attack cookies. Not killing himself. Not overdosing. Not dying on a battlefield. Coming back.

Everything.

"That's my line, Sunshine," Kumo whispered back, content to simply hold Shimenawa in his arms, listening to him breathe and feel his warmth and his heartbeat and savoring the simple fact that he existed. He remembered those days too, the drugs and the suicide attempts and the partying wild and hard and all the goddamned stupid things he'd done, and Shimenawa there all the while, unfailingly helping him to his feet again. Shimenawa hadn't just saved his life, over and over and over again until Kumo finally outgrew his own self-loathing. He'd...

"..you saved my soul."

Shimenawa smiled a little wider at that, and shook his head slightly.

"No."

With a contented sigh, he shifted in place to draw his arms snugly around Kumo's torso. He couldn't think of anything at the moment that would feel more wonderful than just lying here like this.

"You saved your own soul," he murmured back at last, voice filled with a quiet pride. "You just needed a hand up here and there."

"Here and there..." Kumo repeated slightly incredulously before shaking his head, smiling faintly, "I'm not sure we have the same set of memories, Sunshine. But if you say so." There was a long pause then of nothing at all, of Kumo's thoughts dissolving into a completely contented blank. Silence between the two of them had passed being comfortable a long time ago. Shimenawa was soft and warm and exactly as cuddly as Kumo had always remembered, the night was quiet and cool and peaceful save for the occasional giggle from the living room, and everything was just generally _perfect._ A little bit too perfect for someone like him. He mulled about it in his head, how a run of the mill 'my-soul-is-deep-and-dark-and-life-is-pain' goth kid wannabe who hated nearly everything about himself, even his goth kid wannabe qualities, who was constantly on the verge of dropping out of school and killing himself and listening to _really bad_ _music_ ended up with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed honor student, gentlest, most sickeningly sweet soul on the face of the planet. It was almost too weird to think about.

"Sunshine?" he finally asked aloud in a soft whisper, a hint of humor in his voice, "How'd we get here, anyway? What kind of extreme masochism made you stick with me all those years?"

Shimenawa gave a quiet laugh, shaking his head again.

"It wasn't masochism. You were my friend. My best friend. Still are." And his only friend, too, at some points of his life. Growing up with all of the Fourth Hokage's memories packed flawlessly into the mind of a young child, he'd routinely baffled his parents and his teachers and managed to get himself labeled as "the geeky weirdo" by his classmates on more than one occasion; by the time he was old enough to understand which things were okay to say out loud and which needed to stay in his head, it was too little, too late to save his social life. He'd never really fit in well anywhere, even among the class outcasts -- he was just too cheerful and optimistic, despite everything -- but Kumo had never cared. Indeed perhaps that very out-of-place-ness had been what drew him to Shimenawa, like a moth seeking the light.

"I was really just being selfish, you know," he said with a smile. "It would've been pretty lonely going without you around."

"I really don't know what to call you if your idea of being selfish is cleaning up after the mess that was me back in high school," Kumo grinned fondly and reached up to ruffle Shimenawa's hair, "What's there above 'saint'? Demi-god? But it works out for me either way. I'll just keep slacking off in this life so I've got something to tie me down to you come the next. But not too much, because my Sunshine deserves the world. Then again, I won't have to be all that negligent because, god damn if I don't owe you my life a couple dozen times over."

Shimenawa smiled again, abashedly. "Aw, c'mon. I couldn't've _not _done it." He paused for just a moment.

"But... really." He hugged Kumo a little tighter for a second. "You don't need to dwell on back then anymore, you know? You got through it. We got through it together." He tilted his head sideways a little to leave a brief kiss on whatever body part his lips met first, which happened to be Kumo's jaw. "The important part now is the whole big future you've got waiting ahead of you."

"Oh?" Kumo smiled, kissing Shimenawa on the forehead in return, "Have we got plans now, Sunshine?" He still was greatly unused to thinking of life past thirty, but it was sounding better with each passing second that he spent with Shimenawa in his arms. What was sleeping on the ground and on trains and buses and army cots compared to this?

"Well, I don't know, do we?" Shimenawa grinned brightly. "The fun part from now is coming up with them."

A moment later, though, he paused again. His expression grew sober as he looked Kumo in the eye, resting his cheek on the man's shoulder once more.

"...can I ask you to do something though, Kumo?" he murmured. "Something really important."

"Always, Sunshine." Kumo blinked once in surprise, brushing the back of his hand against Shimenawa's cheek. "What is it?"

"Grab me a sandwich?"

The doctor's teasing smirk was positively impish. "My stomach's complaining at me."

"Have we hit pregnancy already, Sunshine?" Kumo teased back with a laugh, "You sure you don't want me to run to the store to get you some chicken flavored cookies or something?" Nonetheless, like a dutiful husband, he rolled over and grabbed one of the sandwiches off the tray and brought it back, holding it for Shimenawa without handing it over. Because there was just something about Shimenawa that cried of 'please pamper me', and who was Kumo to refuse?

Shimenawa reached out a hand for the sandwich, pouting a little when Kumo refused to give it up. "Am I going to have to fight you for it?"

"No, because I'd probably lose, Sunshine, and I don't think my masculinity could take it," Kumo answered rather honestly, though he was smiling still, "Now why don't you open up for me?" There was something about the way Kumo said it, the way he smirked just the slightest bit, his eyes glittering devilishly, that made it seem at though he was no longer talking about sandwiches.

From the flush staining Shimenawa's pale cheeks, the innuendo had not gone over his head either. Grinning an embarrassed sort of grin for a moment, he opened his mouth wide, giving a small tongue-wiggle for effect.

At that, Kumo just about died because, well, Shimenawa was the kind of guy you teased because he was fun to tease, not because... ah, well. Kumo would have to go gutter-diving for his mind in a little bit. Right now, though... Trying not to turn any new and interesting shades of red, Kumo brought a corner of the sandwich to Shimenawa's mouth.

Shimenawa took a large bite, feeling more than a little ridiculous, but amused and strangely flattered all the same. Kumo was entirely _too _doting on him, really... He supposed he'd just have to take every opportunity to return the favor in the future.

"Why thank you," he said with a laugh once he'd swallowed.

"Mmhm," Kumo grinned agreeably, "You're welcome. Now tell me, Sunshine..." He held the sandwich half within bite-range of Shimenawa in case the doctor wanted another bite while Kumo was leading up to his question with a dramatic pause.

"When are you going to make time for our honeymoon?"

"Um..."

Shimenawa blinked, and laughed again. "You got me. Well... I'd like to get the new secretary trained, and we'll have to figure out something to do about the boys, but..." He stopped to think about it for a second. "Could you live with two months from now? A month and two weeks? Christmas is coming up soon too, we don't want to be away for that."

"Do I have a choice?" Kumo sighed, but he remained smiling all the same, absently rubbing Shimenawa's back. Then he blinked belatedly, scratching the back of his neck. "...that time of year already? Geez, that snuck up. At least I can't say I won't be occupied in the meantime." Christmas with... family? It almost sounded too weird to think about, for Kumo. His family had never been big on holidays, and he hadn't seen that family in at least ten years. With the wife and the kids, huh. Kumo could never claim his life to be dull.

"Yeah, somehow between one thing and another, I keep forgetting about it myself," Shimenawa admitted with an abashed sort of laugh. He leaned forward to take another bite of the sandwich almost sheepishly.

"Maybe I'll make our Christmas cake this year instead of buying one," he mused cheerily once his mouth was empty again. "Since we've got two extra people now... I still need to figure out what to get the boys, too..." Not to mention Kumo. Though Shimenawa suspected the other man would be perfectly happy to just get _him _for Christmas. He snickered a little to himself at the thought, and hoped he wasn't flushed at all.

"I've got a couple ideas," Kumo grinned cheerfully back, "And I'll help with the cake!" And he did have a few ideas. A few about what to get the boys, a few about what to put in the cake, and a whole lot more involving Shimenawa and a ribbon and very little else. But Kumo was in a good mood, and good moods tended to lend him happy thoughts. He noticed that Shimenawa looked a little more amused than Christmas cakes and shopping should have made him and playfully prodded the other in the tummy.

"You got that look in your eyes, Sunshine. What are you thinking about?"

Shimenawa's grin just got wider.

"Oh, nothing special."

"Seems kinda special to me, but hey, if it's going to be my Christmas present I guess I can try to contain my curiosity," Kumo sighed, then smiled playfully, tugging a little at the hem of Shimenawa's shirt, "Do I get to have a peek on Christmas Eve?"

Shimenawa glanced up at his face for a moment, raising a thoughtful eyebrow. After a second he reached over to tug the sandwich out of Kumo's hand, took another bite, and then set it down on the opposite end table. He wiped the back of one hand across his mouth after he'd swallowed.

"Well, you know..." He stopped to give another single, quiet, slightly incredulous laugh. "We kind of just got married..." Which he found he could still hardly believe, but well, there it was. And he didn't regret accepting.

"Would you like a peek now?" he wondered with a small, badly-suppressed grin playing around his lips.

"...i-if, uh, if you... er... want to, Sunshine?" Kumo coughed in response, trying to figure out why his brain would come to a reeling stop whenever Shimenawa was remotely suggestive. They were both grown men, a skip away from hitting middle age, and yet...

"I always want a peek," he added quickly because he didn't want to sound disinterested. He was far from it, but god knows it wouldn't be the first time someone mistook social ineptitude for disinterest.

Shimenawa couldn't help laughing some more, feeling utterly delighted. It wasn't very often that Kumo did something completely, unequivocally _cute, _and he couldn't help enjoying such times when they happened.

"Good to hear," he replied sportingly, still grinning as he sat up, running a hand through his hair before he started to strip off his shirt, tugging it over his head. It had been _quite _a long time, he mused... and of a sudden he found himself profoundly grateful once again that of all the people who could possibly have been lying on his bed right at this very moment, it was Kubutsu Kumo and no one else. Not even Hatake Sakumo. This Kumo was his, and his alone.

He started to shimmy out of his pants and leaned over to kiss the other man again, and found he just couldn't get the big stupid grin off his face the whole time.

Not five minutes later, there came the quiet click of the bedroom door locking.


	24. Chapter 24

Second Sight

_Chapter Twenty-four_

"Okay, got it," Obito grinned at Shimenawa as they finished their super-secret conversation in the back of the kitchen. Armed with devious intent, he walked back into the living room where Kakashi had been left waiting and plopped down on the couch next to the kitsune.

"Kakashi" he sang, still grinning like an idiot, because there was little Obito loved more than a good ploy. Maybe a good dinner. And Kakashi, and Shimenawa who made those good dinners. But other than that. "I need you to do a really huge favor for me that'll make me really, really happy. Can you do a huge favor for me, Kakashi? I promise I'll make it up to you in cuddles and stuff."

Kakashi glanced up rather wide-eyed from where he lay on the couch, curled up around a throw pillow and clutching one of Obito's manga (which he hadn't really been reading, but he'd tired of looking at the pictures of explosions and cars and stuff after a while and started counting how many times he could find the word "also"). He tossed it back onto the coffee table as he sat up, tail swishing around his knees.

"Really? Um... what'd you want me to...?" He blinked at the other boy.

"Well, Sensei and I need to go to some _really boring_ grocery shopping and I was thinking we need our clothes from the apartment," Obito began, looking thoughtful. Or, rather, looking as though the little gears that were supposed to turn in his head were grinding as he tried to come up with an impromptu reason to keep Kakashi occupied most of the day.

"Could you go get them for us? And, uh, sort them by color and type of clothing, like pants and shirts and socks and stuff, on the floor in that corner? Then it'll be easier to dress in the morning."

...it didn't sound any more convincing in Obito's head, but it was the best he could do on short notice.

"Um. Okay."

Kakashi paused for a moment, and then gave a sharp nod.

Yes. He could totally do that. He just needed to concentrate. Maybe... first he could just get the clothes, and then worry about all the other stuff...

"...grocery shopping?" he blinked over at Obito.

"Yeah, 'cause, uh, Kumo came back so there's not enough food for all of us. Sensei's going to make a big dinner," Obito paused, trying to be stealthy. Which he was surprisingly and alarmingly bad at, considering he was no worse at it than when he had been a ninja. Which possibly explained a lot about his life.

"Uh. Is there anything you want us to pick up for you?"

Kakashi hugged the throw pillow and thought for a second.

"...can we have candy canes?" He stopped and frowned a little. "The raspberry kind." The mint-flavored kind weren't that good, in his humble opinion.

"Sure! I'll make sure we get some!" Obito readily agreed, eager to get out of there. "We'll see you later, okay, Kakashi?" Waving a quick goodbye, Obito grabbed his jacket and ran back into the kitchen so he and Shimenawa could leave out the back door.

"Ready to go, Sensei!"

"All right. Let's get out of here, then."

Shimenawa grinned at him from where he was sitting perched on a kitchen chair, and rose to go get his coat. It would be just the two of them today: typically, Kumo had disappeared again, leaving behind a note that mysteriously stated he would be home for Christmas morning in a few days. Shimenawa suspected far-too-elaborate gift-giving preparations were in the works.

"What did you send Kakashi off to do?" the doctor wondered cheerily as they sat down on a bus headed for the shopping district. The spirit of the season was in the air; everywhere they turned there were wreaths and lights strung on buildings, and the interior of the bus was filled with the chatter of their fellow last-minute shoppers.

"To get our clothes from the apartment and color-code," Obito reported with a grin, though his expression went a little thoughtfully worried after a moment's pause, "...I hope that keeps him out of trouble long enough for us to shop for him. I might take forever. Because he's _Kakashi_." He pouted at that, crossing his arms over his chest.

"There's a reason I never got him anything, y'know, Sensei. He's completely impossible to shop for."

Shimenawa had to stifle a laugh at the very serious expression on the boy's face. "Oh? Why do you say that?"

"Because he doesn't _like_ anything. How do you buy something for someone who doesn't _like_ anything?"

"Get something _you _like and hope for the best?" Shimenawa couldn't help it, he let the laugh loose. "But I bet you could come up with things he likes if you thought hard about it. And quite honestly, I can't imagine him not liking anything _you _got him," the doctor reassured with a smile.

"I guess so," Obito mumbled with a half scowl, "That never helped before. But I guess... Argh, I'll come up with something." There was another pause on Obito's end before he peered up at Shimenawa, looking concerned.

"...I don't know what to get you, either. And I _definitely _don't know what to get your boyfriend."

"Hm." Shimenawa looked thoughtful. "Well, you don't need to worry about me. As for Kumo, he's really not too hard to please. He'd be happy with anything, but..." The smile on the doctor's face turned amused again. "Probably your best bet would be either the most fattening, unhealthy candy or cake you can think of, or a CD you like. He loves music," the man concluded, feeling rather encouraged that Obito would even want to get Kumo a present at all. Maybe he could actually get them in the same room by Christmas without having to thwart any attempts at murder. Then he would just have to figure out how to explain the whole wedding ring thing... thankfully, Obito didn't seem to have noticed the silver band on his finger yet...

"_Music?_" Obito repeated with a short laugh of disbelief, "Really? He... uh... he doesn't really seem the type. I can try to work with that. But shhh, I'm gonna get you a present even if it ends up being stupid, Sensei. You can't get the short end of the stick all the time or you're going to get reincarnated as a king or something and Kakashi's going to end up your servant or something and Kumo's going to end up your general who handles everything for you and with my luck I'll end up as the puppy that fetches your slippers for the rest of my life." In actuality, Obito had already come up with what he wanted to get Shimenawa. He was simply playing dumb for now, which came completely naturally to him, because he knew to be at least a tiny bit stealthy when it came to presents. Well, no. He knew to be completely stealthy. It was his _capability_ to be stealthy that was marginal at best.

Shimenawa laughed again. "Well, if it's that important, I guess you'd better pick one out. Oh -- this is our stop!"

They exited the bus on one side of a wide, crowded city street; the main shopping district of Konohagakure was a lively place, full of blinking electronic signs and honking car horns and throngs of midday shoppers. Shimenawa looked back and forth between the nearby department stores and the rows of smaller shops that lined both sides of the road, and glanced back toward Obito.

"So, where to first?"

"The music store, I guess?"

The two of them wandered through the bustling streets of Konoha for the next few hours. Obito finally settled on several CDs for Kumo, and candy canes and a snuggly new comforter with little foxes all over it for Kakashi; Shimenawa picked out a fuzzy sweater and a bag of pretty glass marbles for Kakashi (horrible jokes notwithstanding, even if the kitsune didn't want to play with them, at least they were nice to look at), and some gourmet chocolate and a pair of skintight nylon shirts for Kumo (the truth was it was a completely selfish present -- he just wanted to see the other man wearing them).

Once they'd finished buying for Kakashi and Kumo, all that was left was to shop for each other so they split up, planning to meet again outside the grocery store in an hour. Obito dashed off looking rather impish, knowing his present for Shimenawa was going to be just _perfect_.

He arrived in front of the grocery store first, with a soft and squishy looking parcel and a slightly bumpy but solid parcel, entirely pleased with himself. Feeling accomplished, he leaned back against the grocery store wall to wait for Shimenawa to arrive.

"All done?" Shimenawa grinned as he walked up, shopping bags slung over one arm and a strawberry crepe in each hand. One was a bit nibbled-on; he held out the uneaten one to Obito before scooting around to lean against the wall next to him.

"So what did you get me?" he asked cheekily, the way he did every year.

"A diamond ring," Obito answered without missing a beat, the way he did every year. Ever since he was a child and he'd drawn Shimenawa a picture of a gold ring, promising he was going to marry the doctor when he got older. He'd outgrown that, of course, but the joke never seemed to get old. Happily taking the crepe, he managed to get half of it in his mouth before he peered at the hand that had handed him the snack and frowned, chewing thoughtfully.

"Though, Sensei, I might have to get you a different present this year. Looks like someone's beat me to it."

...oh, shit.

Shimenawa looked down at the platinum ring on his hand, looked up at Obito, and turned an altogether quite flattering shade of red.

"...Er. Right." The doctor scratched at the back of his head with a _very _embarrassed smile. "Sorry I forgot to mention that."

Pausing for a moment, he glanced away, taking an absent bite of his crepe. The smile changed in quality again, subtly.

"He, um... the night he came back. He'd made his decision. To stick around here. And he... well, gave this to me."

Shimenawa glanced back toward Obito to smile at him abashedly some more.

"Mmmmngh," came Obito's sullen reply as he took another mouthful of crepe. He pushed himself off the wall and headed into the grocery store without another word. He didn't really know what to say. He wasn't a fan of Kumo's, at all, but the stupid man seemed to make Shimenawa happy and... nnngh. Shimenawa deserved whatever the hell he wanted, even if what he wanted was dumb.

"Let's have ramen for dinner, okay?" he called in the general direction behind him.

Shimenawa was still smiling, a little helplessly.

"Sure," he said to Obito's retreating back, feeling somehow relieved. "You pick out the fixings while I finish my crepe real quick?"

"Yeah," Obito nodded with a casual wave, which was code for 'I'm about to buy half the store's inventory if you don't come in soon to stop me.' He was glad, though, to get a little while to sort his feelings on the matter of Shimenawa finally finding someone. Obito had only been nagging and teasing and telling Shimenawa about how he needed someone in his life for years. Obito'd just never imagined it'd feel so much like he was losing something from Shimenawa he'd never get back. It would never be just them again, just the two of them against the world. But that wasn't Kumo's fault. Shimenawa-sensei hadn't been just Obito's since Kakashi came back, probably hadn't ever been just his if Shimenawa had always remembered everything. But still, it was... it was... Obito put an extra package or three of kamaboko into his basket to try to cheer himself up. It just felt weird. Obito had never been particularly good at putting his feelings into words. Shimenawa being seriously in love with someone like _romantically_... it just felt weird.

Obito dug his toe into the floor and reached for another package of kamaboko. More kamaboko made everything better. Maybe Kumo would choke on it.

It wasn't too long before Shimenawa joined him, promptly put two or three packages of kamaboko back, had a pleasant argument about it, and then picked out the rest of their food for the evening before the pair started home. Obito was just a shade quieter than usual as they climbed onto the bus, but all things considered, Shimenawa was grateful for the overall mildness of the boy's reaction.

"That was a lot of fun," Shimenawa declared brightly, swinging one of his shopping bags as they headed down the sidewalk back toward the clinic. Once they'd made it to the door on the house side, the doctor didn't start rummaging around for his keys immediately, but instead set some of his things down on the front step and pulled Obito into a surprise hug.

"Thank you," he added as he let go, ruffling the boy's hair fondly.

"Huh?" Obito blinked, having been completely caught off-guard by the abrupt hug. Things had been so crazy lately that it'd been a while since the two of them had any quality bonding time to themselves, after all.

"For letting you put the kamaboko back?" he asked rather obliviously, though it was hard to tell if he was doing it on purpose.

Shimenawa just looked at him for a second, and then started laughing.

"Oh, Obito. Never ever change," he said happily as he hugged Obito again.

A moment later, still chuckling quietly to himself, he reached into his pocket to find his keys and let the two of them inside. Upon first opening the door, aside from a certain warm quality to the lights inside the living room, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary; the view of the kitchen doorway visible from the foyer looked exactly as they'd left it. But once they stepped inside...

"...Oh. Oh my..." Shimenawa had to blink several times as he glanced around, grinning.

The inside of the living room was so perfect it might have been a scene out of Santa's workshop. Evergreen garlands twisted together with red-and-gold Christmas lights were strung along the edges of the ceiling, and holly wreaths with golden bells dangled from the walls; all the furniture had been draped with deep red velvet throws hemmed in snowflake-shaped white lace, and in the center of the coffee table sat a small golden candelabra centerpiece, ringed with winter roses. And then on the far side of the room was the main attraction: a massive Christmas tree whose golden star topping came just millimeters shy of scraping the ceiling, hung with sparkling gold and silver bead garlands, glass snowflakes and ruby-red orbs, and lit by a string of softly glowing lights that looked suspiciously otherworldly. In the opposite corner near the kitchen, for some reason, there was a generous-sized puddle of water soaking into the carpet.

For a split moment, Obito thought they'd walked into the wrong house. But Shimenawa's key worked and--_oh_. They'd left Kakashi here. To his own devices. At least the kitsune had stayed out of trouble, and more than that... just... _wow_. It was the most impressive decorating job Obito'd ever seen, even prettier than the department store displays. It was the kind of thing he'd always wanted and it honestly stole his breath away.

"Wow..." he breathed, stepping into the house almost hesitantly, as though he was afraid that putting his rough-around-the-edges self into such a perfect space would cause the universe to implode or something, nearly breaking his own neck as he tried to see everything at once. "This is... really awesome and pretty and... uh..." Something was missing. Something that should be on the couch. Not being in trouble.

"...uh, Kakashi? We're home? Where are--" Obito sniffed the air. There was hot chocolate in the kitchen. More than that, there was someone _enjoying_ the hot chocolate in the kitchen. He poked his head in, catching sight of the kitsune, and grinned.

"We're back! Guess you figured us out after all, huh?"

Kakashi grinned right back, with what could only be called a kitsune grin. "It was to go with the candy canes, see," he explained, sipping his cocoa as he idly swung his legs in the kitchen chair. "Want hot chocolate?"

Shimenawa, meanwhile, had moved on from the grandeur of the rest of the living room and was now staring down curiously at the oddly-shaped puddle next to the kitchen. "Obito, could you get some dishrags while you're in there to mop this up with?" he asked.

"Yay, hot chocolate!" Obito sang, distracted by the prospect of the yummy drink so that he answered Shimenawa without entirely thinking. "Sure, Sensei!" he piped, managing to get halfway to the where the spare towels were kept before he realized what he'd been asked to do.

"...mop?" he asked, half turning to look at what Shimenawa was referring to. "...is that a puddle on the floor?"

Kakashi had the grace to look slightly sheepish as he rose, walking over to join them near the wet spot with tail curled around his legs.

"Um... snow doesn't like the inside," he offered in the way of an explanation, sounding slightly forlorn.

"...you brought snow into the house?" Obito asked, sounding rather entertained by the idea. Then he grinned over at Shimenawa as he set the rags down over the puddle, patting them down to soak up the water. "You can't give me a hard time for bringing all that sand into the house that one summer anymore, Sensei. It's not just me. It makes sense to Kakashi too."

"Well, I made it snow," Kakashi clarified absently, looking up toward a window.

With a slightly incredulous laugh, Shimenawa set about cleaning up the water, and then they all sat down to have hot chocolate.

It was about a day later that Obito noticed not just the throws in the living room, but most of his helpfully-sorted-by-color underwear seemed to have turned red velvet and lacy... 


	25. Chapter 25

Second Sight

_Chapter Twenty-five_

Christmas Eve arrived quickly enough, though there was still no sign of Kumo as the morning passed by. He had really meant it when he said he would be back Christmas morning and no sooner, it seemed. Christmas Eve, instead, brought them two unexpected wayward souls to their door. The first of which was Shimenawa's new secretary, who came knocking at her favorite time of day--just after noon. She had been baking all morning because she really didn't have enough to occupy herself with now that Professor Tsunade was gone. (She _still_ hadn't called and Shizune was beginning to go a little beyond worrying, possibly treading into the delicate realm of psychosis.) It was actually only when she ran out of _floor space_ to lay out all the cakes and cookies and brownies and cupcakes and pies she was making that she decided that maybe it was time to give some of her baked goods away. Purely to make room to bake _more_, but still.

She was carrying a bag of two cakes, three pies, a platter of cookies, and half a dozen brownies when she knocked on Shimenawa's back door, something wriggling tucked under her other arm. She really hoped she wasn't bothering them, but she was running out of people to give baked goods to, and, well, who better to give excessive amounts of sweets to than growing boys? She hadn't seen a lot of them since she started working as she was mostly slaving in Shimenawa's office, trying to make it presentable, but Obito was very vocal about his passion for food and she'd overheard that Kakashi at least liked sweets.

"Just a second!" called the doctor's voice from inside, and then not too long later Shimenawa was opening the door, offering his favorite and only employee a pleased grin. "Shizune! Merry Christmas! You're early! And you..." He blinked, frowning slightly as he registered just exactly what he was looking at. "...Brought a pig?"

"Merry Christmas! And, ah, sorry," Shizune smiled sheepishly, but she looked happy despite the fact that her hair was rather wind-and-stress ravaged and her shirt seemed to be inside-out. Something about Shimenawa's... everything had an elevating effect on her. She shifted the pig's weight under her arm. "Tonton, stop squirming or I'm going to drop you! And I'm not going to save you again if the neighbor's dog gets any ideas.

"She wouldn't stop squealing when I tried to leave her in the house," Shizune explained, sounding a little embarassed, "I just came to bring over some cakes and cookies and things for the boys since I made too much. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Of course not! I said I'd be happy to have you over, didn't I?" Shimenawa beamed as he ushered her into the house, taking the bag of baked goods off her hands -- it was rather _ridiculously _heavy. "There's a place set for you at dinner if you want to stay. If you don't have anywhere else to be, of course," he added with a slightly sheepish turn to the ever-present grin.

"Oh, and your pig is quite welcome too." The doctor seemed very amused at having the opportunity to say those words in that particular combination, walking into the kitchen to set the bag of goodies down on the counter next to the sink. "Thanks for these," he said with another smile. "Smells wonderful in there. I'm sure the boys will love them."

"You're welcome," Shizune glowed back, liking Shimenawa just that much more because, hey, he was accepting of her pig. Not many people took things in stride quite as well as her boss, and she was constantly in awe at him for it. "Thanks for having us." She set Tonton down then, firmly telling the pig to behave before letting her go.

"Is it just you and the boys tonight, Shimenawa-sensei?" she asked, glancing around as Tonton dashed off in a seemingly random direction.

"Yeah. Kumo's disappeared off somewhere," he said with a laugh, going back to the baked potatoes he'd been preparing. "I have a feeling he's planning something spectacular for Christmas Day..." He was still wearing the ring; hadn't taken it off once since that night, in fact, not even to shower. He hoped Kumo _was_ planning on making it up to him for missing out on a romantic Christmas Eve together.

"Oh, that sounds lovely," Shizune commented mostly happily. Some small part of her was irritated at Tsunade for the thought that while Kumo was off planning something that would sweep Shimenawa off his feet, Tsunade was out there somewhere most probably earning herself more gambling debts. Sigh. That was life. It was then that she noticed the small band on Shimenawa's finger. How recent was that? Had she been looking straight over it these past few days?

"Shimenawa-sensei?" she asked a little bit shyly, pointing to his hand, "Is that...?"

"Um..."

Shimenawa looked down at his hand for a second, and then grinned a very goofy grin.

"Yeah?" He scratched at the back of his head embarrassedly a little. "I know we haven't been dating very long, but we've known each other since high school and stuff and well... one thing just sort of led to another..."

"Oh!" Shizune clapped her hands together in delight, "Congratulations, Shimenawa-sensei! I'm so happy for you! I'll have to get you two a present! Can I see the ring? Oh! Are you two going anywhere special?" She had the feeling she was sounding like an a nosy neighbor or maybe even a slightly jealous old maid, but she couldn't help it. She was a romantic, through and through, despite where her life insisted on taking her.

"Thank you...! Ah-- of course you can see." Shimenawa still looked happily embarrassed, and also rather gratified that she was even interested; he tugged the platinum band off with care, reaching over to place it down gingerly in the palm of Shizune's outstretched hand. "I'm pretty sure we're going somewhere later, sometime after Christmas... I'm not sure what he's got in mind, though. Kumo's the one making the travel plans, it's sort of his specialty," the doctor noted with a grin. They'd barely needed to discuss skipping the proper wedding part, which had come as something of a relief to both parties, Shimenawa thought; he'd always found such elaborate ceremonies to be nothing but exhausting.

"Oh, it's beautiful..." Shizune admired before she carefully gave the ring back, "It suits you very well. He must have put a lot of thought into it. I'm sure your trip will be wonderful too! Make sure to take lots of pictures for Tonton and me, okay?" She smiled wistfully then, briefly casting her gaze to the ceiling. "Having someone like that must be nice." Then she shook her head and looked around, wondering why she had said that aloud as she searched for a decent subject change.

"...where are the boys?"

Shimenawa smiled again, perhaps a little apologetically. "Still sitting around watching TV in the living room, I imagine. Feel free to go say hi -- I've still got some things to finish up here, so..." He nodded toward the half-finished dinner preparations.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Shizune asked, peering over at Shimenawa's progress, "After I say hi to the boys, of course. I'd hate to be impolite."

"Hmm..." Shimenawa glanced thoughtfully around at the food laid out on the counter and then shook his head. "I'm good, I think, I'm pretty close to done here. Thanks, though."

"Alright, then," Shizune smiled, "I'll be just in the living room if you do end up needing anything."

Meanwhile, a certain hoofed creature had beaten Shizune to greeting the boys and was rooting around under the couch for dust mites and boy-feet, snuffling slightly all the while. Shizune had been baking all morning and had forgotten to feed poor Tonton, leaving the piglet hungry and considering whether or not the hem of Obito's pants was dinner. She nibbled.

"Kakashi, did you just kick me?" Obito blinked, looking down at their feet.

"Nah. Was probably the pig." Kakashi had noticed the animal's scent as she waddled in, but he'd been too comfy curled up around Obito to bother investigating. Now that she'd come close, though, his curiosity was pinged a little, and he sat up with a stretch to swing his head upside-down over the edge of the couch.

"Hi, pig," he greeted the creature with a dreamy smile, kicking his legs up across the couch back, tail swishing around aimlessly.

Tonton pawed the floor with her hoof in greeting right back, then made hungry colors at Kakashi when she noticed him, nibbling a little more on Obito's pant leg. Meanwhile, the former Uchiha was still trying to catch up.

"Was probably the-- the _what_? Pig? What pig? AUGH! _That_ pig! Kakashi the pig is trying to eat me get it off get it off get it off!"

"She's hungry," Kakashi stated rather unnecessarily, still smiling as he stuck a hand under the couch to wiggle in the pig's general direction. "Wanna cookie? We have cookies." He could taste her hungry yellows but he couldn't send back any soothing blues while he was in human shape; hopefully at least his voice would be convincing. (It was probably just as well, though -- pigs didn't like foxes because foxes knew pigs were very tasty.)

Cookies probably weren't terribly good for pigs, but Tonton wasn't in any mood to complain. She offered Kakashi a happy sort of pink haze and gently nudged his leg with her snout, hoping food would eventually fall out of this not-quite human. He was human-shaped, at least. Human-shaped things generally fed her.

"Where did the pig come from?" Obito was bobbing this way and that, as though viewing the pig from different angles would tell him something about how the pig came into their house. "How do you know she's hungry? How do you know she's a she?"

"Umm... she smells like girl and... she said so?" Kakashi seemed slightly confused by the question, turning his head to give Obito an upside-down frown. After a second he turned his attention back to the pig, trying to coax her out from under the couch. This would probably work better if he'd gotten the cookie _first..._

"Kakashi? Obito?" Shizune called as she knocked on the door frame before stepping into the living room, "Shimenawa-sensei's finishing up dinner, and-- oh, have you met Tonton?" She stepped into the living room and looked at where Kakashi was trying to get the pig to come out.

"Tonton! Stop being shy and come say hi to the boys. They're very nice and won't pull your tail," Shizune paused to cast Obito a warning glare, "I promise!"

"...why did she look at me?" Obito mumbled to Kakashi, tucking his legs under himself so that Tonton couldn't eat any more of his pants. At Shizune's coaxing, Tonton slowly squirmed back out from under the couch, scampering over to nuzzle Shizune's leg.

"Huh?--" Kakashi attempted to roll over onto his back to see who had come in, and only succeeded in falling off the side of the couch.

"Cleaning-stuff lady!"

He blinked at Shizune surprisedly as he sat right-side-up again, rubbing a little at the bump on his head. What was cleaning-stuff lady doing here? Not cleaning stuff? Whenever he'd caught a glimpse of her she'd either been sitting in the front office cleaning stuff, or walking around the exam room cleaning stuff, or sitting at Sensei's desk cleaning stuff... did she do other stuff that _wasn't _cleaning stuff?

"...Your pig's hungry. Oh, Merry Christmas," he added as an afterthought, smiling.

"Is she? Oh, no! I forgot to feed her today! I'm sorry, sweetie!" Shizune grimaced, bending down to scoop up the poor, starving piglet. "I'll have to ask Shimenawa-sensei if he has any fruits or vegetables to spare or I'll have to run to the store... Aa... Hang in there, okay, Tonton?" Shaking her head, she turned back up to Kakashi and Obito with an apologetic sort of smile.

"Oh, yes, Merry Christmas to you boys too." Huh. There was something odd about...

"What's on your lap, Kakashi?"

Obito bristled at the question, gaze snapping over to the fluffy fox-tail in question.

'_Oh, crap._'

Kakashi frowned down at himself for a second, not quite sure what cleaning-stuff lady was talking about. There was nothing in his lap except his...

...oh. Right. _Kitsune._

When he'd been around cleaning-stuff lady before, they'd had him hide it, but -- technically you weren't _really _supposed to go around telling everyone about -- well, see, if the humans knew everything they thought they didn't know it would just be so bothersome and so well--

"...A figment of your imagination?" he offered after a second, smiling benignly. His tail flopped against his lap a little without his really thinking about it.

"That happens to me sometimes," the kitsune continued thoughtfully, mostly to himself. "There's something that's there but it's not really there, but it completely is there because I thought it was but it's not, but it's there but according to the empirical laws of timespace it's not really except it is. Not." He stopped and blinked down at his lap for a moment, looking like he'd confused himself slightly. "...I think."

If Obito's mind wasn't too busy spinning, he might've smacked himself, or Kakashi, on the forehead. Could Kakashi have possibly answered that any worse? Obito didn't really want to know, because he had the feeling that the answer would be yes. Shizune, meanwhile, had given up following Kakashi's runaway carriage of a thought after about the first two 'it's there but not really's, instead taking a step toward the silver-haired boy to get a better look at the tail in question.

"Is that... is that a _tail_?" she blinked, reaching out to touch it. Tonton squirmed out of her arms and landed in Kakashi's lap. Was the tail food? It kind of looked like food, maybe. It didn't smell very yummy, but hungry was hungry. She nibbled at the fur.

"That's not... that's not a _real_ tail, is it? I mean. It's... it moved." Shizune was having a bit of a hard time accepting that the tail was very obviously connected to Kakashi, because little boys weren't supposed to have fox tails and you'd think she would've noticed this on one of her previous visits, though she _had_ been really busy ever since she started working.

"--Um..."

Kakashi glanced up, a little guiltily.

"...Yes." He paused and held up a finger over his mouth, giving her a serious look. "Shh."

"It's, uh, it's... uh..." Obito looked around helplessly, wondering how he was going to begin to fix this situation. Shizune was staring at Kakashi kind of funny, pulling Tonton off the other's tail which only made the tail look even _more_ real, which it was, but still. And Kakashi wasn't being very stealthy at _all _and-- and--

"I think I should go help Sensei with dinner. I'll be right back. Don't, uh. Don't do anything while I'm going, okay? _Anything_," he repeated with a meaningful look at Kakashi, "I, uh, wouldn't want to miss any fun. Yeah. _Stay still_." Then he was gone, having vaulted off the couch, retreating into the kitchen.

"Sensei!" he called, "Sensei, you didn't warn us she was coming! And Kakashi! The thing! That, y'know! _That thing!_" Obito was doing his best to mime having a tail, but he'd always been the worst at charades.

Shimenawa watched Obito wave his hand around behind his rear end for a second or two, blinked bemusedly... and then gave a start.

"_Oh--_" Shit, he hadn't even _thought _about--

"Erm, Shizune, I can explain," the doctor said hurriedly, expression awkward as he rushed into the living room. "...um... kind of..."

Kakashi glanced between cleaning-stuff lady and Sensei, and scratched his head, smoothed out his chewed-on tail, and felt slightly silly.

"Er... that is to say." Shimenawa stopped, giving Shizune an uncomfortable sort of smile. "This is probably going to sound really crazy, but... do you believe in the old stories at all? About the gods and kappa and tanuki and kitsune and the like...?"

"Huh?" Shizune blinked, wondering why Shimenawa was talking about mythological creatures. "Believe in-- you're not trying to tell me-- he's not--..." Shizune gave the tail a poke and watched it wiggle slightly in response.

"...is he?"

"Well..."

Shimenawa ran a hand through his hair and concluded there was really no way to make it sound not-crazy. "Yeah."

Kakashi was looking very sheepish now, and he glanced back and forth between Shimenawa and Obito apologetically. "Um. Sorry."

His tail bounced up out of his lap to thrash around behind him as he glanced back toward Shizune, frowning slightly.

"Um... I'm not really supposed to tell," he murmured in the way of explanation, presenting the very picture of a young child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"But..." Shizune hugged Tonton to her chest, her brain completely shut down. "You guys... aren't joking?" Feeling a little faint, Shizune sat down where she was standing, stubbornly clutching on to Tonton even as the piglet snuffed and tried to get away. "Why on earth do you have a... why's he... I need a moment." She turned her gaze down at her pig.

"...you're not going to turn into a person, are you?"

Tonton only nudged Shizune's hand with her snout and made more pitiful, starving-to-death colors.

"Sensei," Obito whispered into Shimenawa's ear, "Why didn't you lie to her or something? I think you just broke your new secretary."

"Erm... here, Shizune, why don't you have a seat on the couch..." Shimenawa, looking rather mortified, stooped to take her hand and tug her over to a seat, pig in tow. He set her down with an abashed smile.

"Don't worry, I think Tonton is just what she appears to be," he said with a quiet laugh. "Kakashi's just a little different. I know it's completely crazy, but, well..."

Kakashi frowned slightly at the pet pig in Shizune's arms, and glanced up toward its owner's face again.

"She's really hungry... can I bring her a cookie?" he requested, looking concerned. "I told her I'd give her a cookie."

"A... cookie?" Shizune responded dazedly, staring at Kakashi as though she didn't quite understand the words coming out of his mouth. Then she blinked again and her brain briefly worked again. "Oh. A _cookie_. Cookies are bad for pigs. Well. They're bad for people too, but you just shouldn't give cookies to pigs. You can bring her an apple or something if you want?" Then the poor girl went back to staring at Kakashi's tail with a mixture of disbelief, fascinated horror, and 'oh god, I think all of my little girl, shoujo-manga fantasies just came true'. This could be a little while yet.

"Oh. Okay." Kakashi blinked a little and rose from his place, tail curling around one leg a little as naturally as if it did so all the time. Which it did. "Do we have apples...?" he muttered to himself as he padded off into the kitchen, the fuzzy white fox tail swinging behind him in graceful, undulating sweeps.

"Er... Here, Shizune..." Shimenawa had disappeared from her side for a moment, only to return with a cup of tea which he sat down next to her, expression terribly apologetic. She'd looked so shocked there for a moment he'd been a little afraid she was going to faint. "I'm sorry to take you by surprise like that..."

"Oh, no, don't worry," she reassured, sounding a little strained and distant but altogether collected, "I'm used to surprises. I came home one day and Tsunade-sensei had dressed Tonton up in doll clothes. It's okay, really. I just need a moment." She reached for the tea and brought it to her lips, trying not to spill any as she took a sip.

"Thank you," she added as she set the tea back down again.

"We did have apples," came the announcement from the kitchen door a moment later as Kakashi walked in, carrying one fruit in each hand. He plopped down unceremoniously on the carpet in front of where Shizune was sitting, curled up his legs and his tail, and wordlessly held an apple out for Tonton to sniff. He wished he could actually say something to her; being in human shape was such a bother sometimes.

Wiggling her general back end, tail and all, Tonton scrambled away from Shizune and ran in circles around Kakashi before finally coming to a stop in front of the apple, sniffing it up and down before nibbling at the skin, making bursts of happy colors all the while. She crawled into Kakashi's lap and sat down, nudging the apple until it was close enough for her to reach before she resumed eating, munching happily.

"Oh," Shizune blinked down at Tonton as though something was only just occurring to her. She looked back up at Kakashi. "Don't try to eat my pig, okay? She almost killed the neighbor's dog when he tried to snack on her." That said, she took another slightly shaky sip of tea. Seeing that Shizune seemed to be taking this rather well, or that at least she wouldn't snap terribly soon if she was going to, Obito began to become concerned about things other than their extremely important secret leaking to yet another party. Things such as...

"Uh, Sensei?" he asked quietly, "...dinner's not burning while you're here, is it?"

"Oh, _crap--_" Shimenawa looked frantically between Shizune and the kitchen doorway for a second before rushing off to check on their food.

"Don't worry, I won't eat her," Kakashi reassured the woman. He smiled and petted Tonton a little, scratching her behind the ears as she ate, and he set the second apple on the coffee table for when she was finished.

"I'm _polite,_" he insisted at Shizune after a second, with the slightest pout.

"That's good," Shizune smiled faintly back, "Young men should be polite. You should try teaching Obito sometime."

"..._hey_," Obito protested, but not as loudly or adamantly as he normally would have. He was still deciding whether or not he would actually eat Tonton if presented with a desperate situation or something like that. He was currently leaning toward a 'maybe, depending on the circumstances', which probably didn't say much about his politeness.

Tonton, meanwhile, looked as though she were _smiling_, nuzzling Kakashi's hand between bites of apple, wiggling the entirety of her little body with sheer joy at being fed and paid attention to. She even munched away the core of the apple before looking up expectantly at Kakashi, licking his slightly sticky fingers.

Kakashi smiled back, looking very pleased to have pleased her. He let the little pig continue to lick at his hand, twisting around slightly to grab the second apple with his opposite and offer it to her. "That's better, right?"

The second apple was energetically devoured as well before Tonton tried to scramble up Kakashi's chest. She didn't quite manage it, instead ending up standing on her hind legs, her front hooves pressing against Kakashi's chest. She nudged his chin with her snout and nuzzled him and licked his jaw and generally tried to let him know he was currently the best person in the world. Obito was beginning to look a little jealous, arms folded firmly over his chest as he watched them. At least dinner would be ready soon, he comforted himself.

Shizune, meanwhile, was now thinking about how nice it would be to be a pig. Tonton didn't care if Kakashi had a tail, wouldn't care if Kakashi had three heads or no legs as long as Kakashi gave her food and attention. It would be so nice to be a pig.

Kakashi absently hugged the pig against his chest like a stuffed animal, all smiles and feeling like he'd managed to do something nice. Being hungry sucked, after all, even if you were a tasty pig. Perhaps _especially _if you were a tasty pig. Could you be tasty if you didn't have tasty things in you to make you tasty? It was a mystery.

After a moment he looked up again, though, and noticed Shizune staring in their direction with the oddest look on her face. It seemed like she really didn't like his tail, or maybe... well, it was just weird... he frowned and sighed a little. It was his own fault. Humans weren't supposed to know about kitsune. Maybe he broke her on accident.

"Sorry... am I scary?" he apologized rather quietly, still hugging Tonton against him and looking rather sad and guilty.

"Scary?" Shizune blinked, shaking her head quickly, "Oh, no, honey. Tsunade-sensei's gambling debts are scary. The mess in Shimenawa-sensei's office is scary. _You_ are definitely not scary. Just... just..." She peered at him again, trying to decide what to say next.

"...can you do anything kitsune-y?"

"Um..." Kakashi blinked for a second. "Sure..." He glanced down at Tonton for a second, frowning slightly.

_...I'm gonna stay in human shape though, 'cos pigs don't like foxes, _came the little red thoughts creeping into her mind after a moment, slowly and cautiously so as not to startle.

_Look behind the couch._

'Human shape?' Shizune wondered, blinking rapidly at the Kakashi-thoughts in her head. Curious, she stood and walked around the couch to peer behind it and found... A beautiful bouquet of blue roses. And... and... a bucket of _cleaning supplies_. With a strangled little laugh, she brought them out from behind the couch, looking a little bit more disheveled than she had a moment ago, seeming to be teetering between delight and hysterics.

"Oh. Thank you, Kakashi," she smiled, peering down. All of her favorite fragrances. Her favorite fragrances weren't perfumes or candles or lotions. They were _cleaning supplies_. The thought almost made her want to cry. But it was so sweet of Kakashi to... uh... how _did_ those get there, anyway? "I'll have to buy you boys presents before tomorrow. For now, though, I brought pies and cakes and stuff?"

"Really?" Kakashi's eyes got _very _big.

"And on that, note, uh, how about some dinner?" piped up Shimenawa, who seemed to have been standing awkwardly in the kitchen doorway for several minutes. "Everything's ready," he said, smiling apologetically at Shizune.

"Dinner!" Shizune nodded, glad to get out of the living room, "It smells very good, Shimenawa-sensei! Shall we go? Yes, let's go have dinner." The poor secretary seemed a little rattled still, but overall she seemed to be doing exceptionally well, considering. She hugged her bucket of cleaning supplies and roses to her chest and carried them off with her.

Obito stayed behind to glare at Kakashi, thinking thoughts involving '_put the pig down or I won't kiss you ever again_'. Sure, it was a little silly to be jealous of someone else's pet, but... but... the pig had been licking Kakashi and Kakashi had been hand-feeding the pig and... and... Kakashi hadn't even fed _him_ recently. Obito folded his arms over his chest and waited.

As Shimenawa ushered Shizune off into the kitchen, Kakashi rose carefully, still hugging Tonton against his chest. He walked over to lay her down on the couch with a last scratch behind her ears, still smiling, and then turned back toward Obito; his tail swished around his legs as he walked over to tug at the other boy's arms until Obito unfolded them, and then the kitsune took hold of Obito's hand, leaning against him in a random hug. For some reason he was in a really good mood all of a sudden.

It took Obito a moment, but eventually the want to cuddle Kakashi close overwhelmed his instinctive need to be stubborn and he wrapped his arms firmly around the kitsune.

"...I'm still your favorite, right?" he asked with a hint of a pout, nuzzling Kakashi's neck.

"You're my Obito," Kakashi said happily, holding the other boy tighter for a moment. He curled his tail around one of Obito's legs until they let go.

In the kitchen, Shimenawa had laid out a dinner worthy of Christmas Eve; Shizune's cakes and pies and cookies joined a spread of roast turkey, stuffing, salad and casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, steamed vegetables, and fresh bread straight from the oven. It probably hadn't been the best idea to put the cakes and pies and such out with the rest of the food, because it took Shizune physically swatting the boys' hands away from the desserts every five minutes (with truly impressive accuracy even by ninja standards) until they ate all of their vegetables. Certain hands were sneaking Tonton bites of vegetables, which didn't escape the fearsomely attentive secretary and she responded by simply piling on more healthy goodness onto the boys' plates. Other than that, dinner was like a page out of a cheesy family movie, with pleasant conversation and good food and good company and a pig. Shizune almost managed to forget that Kakashi had a tail swishing around behind him.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, Shizune made Kakashi clear the table and Obito wash the dishes because, honestly, they were grown boys and Shimenawa-sensei needed a break.

"Shimenawa-sensei?" she asked lightly as she went ahead and began to brew some tea for them, "Would you mind telling me more about the lucky man and, ah, your special circumstances over tea in the living room?"

Tonton was following Kakashi around, now and again stepping on his feet as she tried to get him to hold her. The kitsune crouched to pick her up before too long with a pleased expression, cuddling the little pig as he carried her off into the back of the house.

"Sure," Shimenawa replied, smiling as he filled up a vase with water at the kitchen sink. He'd taken it upon himself to look after the bouquet of roses.

Obito almost broke the remaining plates trying to wash them quickly enough to follow Kakashi to make sure his boyfriend wasn't going to cheat on him with Shizune's pet pig or something like that, resolutely deciding he would get Tonton away from Kakashi and then ravish the kitsune silly or something like that. Maybe on Sensei's exam table. Hm. He scampered off, the last few dishes not quite completely rinsed.

"Huh," Shizune smiled faintly after them, "I wonder if we're the ones who need the privacy or them."

Shimenawa grinned, going just a little flushed as he adjusted the roses in their vase and walked over to place them on the kitchen table (but not in the center; they were Shizune's, not his, after all). "A little of both, perhaps?" he speculated slightly abashedly.

"Seems like Kakashi and your pig are getting along," the doctor observed after a moment, expression turning amused.

"It's surprising," Shizune nodded, looking thoughtful, "Tonton doesn't usually like strangers. Most of the time she won't even let me put her down in public." She shrugged and poured both of them crysthanthemum tea, lightly sweetened, then offered Shimenawa a mug.

"Maybe it's a kitsune thing?" ...had she really just said that? She almost wanted to repeat herself, just to see if she would sound any less stupid the second time.

"Could be." Shimenawa sounded embarrassed again as he accepted the proffered tea, turning so the pair of them could head back into the living room.

"Er... again, I'm sorry about the shock," he said as they sat down. "You're all right... right?" He gave a single embarrassed laugh. "I guess it's not something we give much thought to anymore, we're just used to it."

"It's just... hard to believe, I guess," Shizune laughed back with a small smile, shrugging, "Right in front of my eyes and yet... I don't know. I've always thought of myself as a little strange, running around after Tsunade-sensei, having a pet pig... But really. I haven't believed in magic or kitsune or any of those stories since I was just a little girl." She paused to sip her tea, looking a little nostalgic.

"How did he come to live with you, Shimenawa-sensei? Don't the legends say they're forest creatures?"

"Well..." Shimenawa looked thoughtfully down into his mug, trying to decide how much to say about the whole incredibly awkward series of events. "It's a long story... Basically he's just very attached to Obito; he goes where Obito goes, and Obito came around here." The doctor smiled a little embarrassedly. "It's just as well though, I think... Given that he's a magical creature and all and he managed to grow up all the way to adulthood without getting himself killed, but it's a little worrisome thinking of him running around on his own without supervision, all the same." He felt a brief pang as he said it, a memory of a time when Kakashi had been a very different person; but there was no going back anymore. He'd mostly gotten over it by now.

Still, sometimes he missed the days when his hugs and hair-ruffling were returned only with an adorable scowl.

"I understand the feeling," Shizune nodded, having noticed that Kakashi was not entirely all there in the head the first time she met him. It was one of those things that was hard to miss. She couldn't begin to guess what had happened to Kakashi to make him the way he was, but it was really none of her business. The boy had been right, after all. All she was really here to do was clean and help out where she could.

"How is the, ah..." she began instead, pausing to make a vague gesture as she tried to remember Kumo's name, "Ah... Sakumo-san, was it?"

"Kumo," Shimenawa confirmed with a nod. He smiled again, still looking a little abashed as he glanced away.

"Um, he's doing... pretty good, I think. Like I said, I'm not sure exactly what he's up to right now..." The doctor gave a short laugh. "It's not unusual for him to disappear on me, though. He's sort of the restless type. He's traveled all over."

"...disappear on you?" Shizune suddenly frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. A mildly alarming expression of contemplating the pros and cons of throttling Kumo the next time she saw him crossed the normally happy and well adjusted secretary's face. Very little upset Shizune more than someone who would go off without notice, especially when they had someone as sweet and wonderful as Shimenawa waiting at home, wondering where he was.

"He should at least tell you where he's going," she continued darkly, a sort of gloom settling itself over her as she spoke. Something in the back of her head was mumbling Tsunade's name over and over again. "It's rude and inconsiderate not to tell people who care about you where you're going. Otherwise they sit home and worry about you and then you never call and before they know it they've re-carpeted your apartment with cookies--"

She stopped abruptly, nearly jumping, as Shimenawa lightly laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about Kumo. I trust him." The doctor smiled, soft and serene. "He always comes back."

He paused for a moment, expression sobering.

"But... are you all right?"

"M-me?" Shizune stammered, looking a little embarrassed at her little outburst, "Ah, well... I... I'm fine, I suppose. It's nothing, really. Nothing to bother your boss about, I mean..." She looked a little pink in the cheeks as she shrugged, toying absently with her short hair.

"I guess... well, I have someone who disappears on me too," Shizune explained in a roundabout way, feeling it wasn't fair to not say anything after worrying Shimenawa like that but not really wanting to get into the awkward arrangement she had with Tsunade with her new employer. "She's a little less reliable than Kumo-san."

"I see." Shimenawa smiled again, looking sympathetic and a little awkward. He wanted to ask her more, but she looked a little uncomfortable, and it wasn't as if it was really his business to pry into...

"Probably a stupid question, but..." He grinned abashedly and scratched at his head for a moment. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Giving me a regular job is help enough," Shizune smiled with a small shake of her head, "It's been this way a long time. I'll be okay." She paused a moment, looking thoughtful, before she reached over and placed her hand on Shimenawa's.

"You're a good man, Shimenawa-sensei. I'm sure things will work themselves out for you," she offered encouragingly before she collected her things into her lap. "I should let you three enjoy the rest of your Christmas Eve. I'll see you when the clinic is open again?"

"I--" Shimenawa blinked, a little surprised at the sudden change in tone; he took a deep breath and nodded a little, trying not to look worried. "...Um... sure. Thanks for coming by... It's been nice having you."

He set his tea down on the coffee table and slid his hands into his pants pockets as he rose from the couch. "Shall I see you out?"

"Thank you for having me," she nodded politely as she stood as well, "Especially since I haven't been working for you very long." She paused briefly to turn to the side and call out Tonton's name. It took a third try before the soft clatter of little hoofbeats filled the kitchen and the piglet found its way back to Shizune, looking rather depressed at having to leave. She let Shimenawa escort her to the door, Tonton sadly following at her heels.

"Have a wonderful Christmas, Shimenawa-sensei," she added as she stepped out the door, turning to give him another bright smile. Then she waved goodbye and was off, on her way down the street again, looking awfully lonely and small clutching her bucket of cleaning supplies to her chest, a morose little piglet following in her shadow.

"Merry Christmas!" Shimenawa called after her, and then a moment later--

"Wait--you forgot your roses!"

But she was already too far away. 


	26. Chapter 26

Second Sight

More fluff this chapter. If anyone is feeling the lack of angst/drama and uh, also that plot we promised, don't worry, we feel it too and are impatiently headed in that direction. We're about out of backlog, though, so it's likely we won't be returning to daily updates for a while yet. Sorry about that. -Kakashiplayer

* * *

_Chapter Twenty-six_

It was in the middle of the night that Kumo returned, sneaking through Shimenawa's bedroom window in a way that was quickly becoming a habit for him. He dropped all of his stuff on the floor immediately within the window to free himself up to all but pounce on a certain blonde's sleeping form, cheerfully pinning him down.

"Merry Christmas, Sunshine," he whispered, grin so broad that it was nearly audible.

The Hokage of a few thousand years ago probably would never have fallen for such a tack; but Shimenawa was himself, and trusted Kumo to boot. He didn't wake at all until Kumo's breath was tickling against his face as the man whispered to him, and even then only frowned a little in half-sleep, bleary eyes fluttering open for a moment.

"nn-- whuh... Kumo? Merry Christmas..." he mumbled automatically, curling around one of the arms pinning him down as he rolled sleepily over onto his side a little.

"H-hey, now," Kumo laughed as Shimenawa tried to go right back to sleep, giving the doctor a light shake, "Is that any way to greet your husband after not seeing him for days? C'mon, Sunshine. You gotta wake up." He paused a moment, then leaned over to whisper into Shimenawa's ear, grinning to himself some more.

"...I've got presents," he crooned, sparing no suggestion in his tone.

"...nnnnnn. 'nother hour of sleep would be a great present."

The pout in Shimenawa's voice was definitely not the pout of a half-asleep person, no matter how much he might like to pretend.

"You missed Christmas Eve dinner, jerk," Shimenawa continued, laying it on thick as he rolled back over to prop himself up on his elbows and give Kumo a kiss.

"I'm sorry, Sunshine," Kumo pouted right back, at the very least sounding apologetic, "I wanted to make everyone's presents special so I had to stay away a couple days. I'll make it up to you?" He gave Shimenawa his best scolded puppy look, pressing an envelope into his hands.

"There's other stuff too, but that's the 'I'm sorry I missed dinner' present. You'd think having missed your cooking would be punishment enough."

Shimenawa blinked down at the envelope for a second as he sat up all the way, stifling a yawn. If it hadn't been... he looked around for the bedside clock... if it hadn't been seven in the morning, he might have considered lecturing Kumo about how bringing him material _stuff _didn't begin to make up for the far more important lack of his presence, but... it was too early. And it was Christmas. He guessed he could forgive a little.

"Should I open it now, then?" he said, but didn't actually wait for Kumo's okay before pulling open the envelope and shaking the contents out. He seemed to be holding... a reservation notice for a very expensive restaurant, two tickets to an exclusive spa, and a receipt (with all the prices blacked out) for a stay at a very fancy hotel. The dates were for the very next weekend.

He had to stare down at them for a second or three, eyes very wide, before he glanced back up at Kumo again. He wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or really guilty about the amount of money the stuff in the little envelope must have represented.

"Geez..." He stopped for a second, a little breathless, and laughed. "Okay, I'm awake now."

"I kept threatening you with a honeymoon, didn't I?" Kumo laughed quietly in response, though he looked a little bit uncertain, unsure of whether Shimenawa actually liked his presents. Maybe the spa was a little too much...? "I know you wanted a couple months to prepare, but it's just a weekend getaway sort of thing... We can stab at the real thing when you're ready, yeah?"

Shimenawa was smiling awkwardly, glancing between the documents and Kumo once again for a moment. "I probably don't want to know how much these cost, right...?"

Running a hand through his hair a little, he sat them down on the bed and leaned over to wrap his arms around Kumo, giving the man another kiss.

"You really don't have to spoil me so much. But. Thank you," he murmured, still a little embarrassed.

"Who says I'm spoiling you?" Kumo teased, bringing his arms around Shimenawa as well with a little, content sigh, "Don't you know those presents are secretly for me? Well, no, they're kinda like really expensive wrapping paper for what I _really_ want." He nuzzled Shimenawa's neck lightly at that, looking rather pleased with himself. "_You_," he added, just in case he wasn't being clear or suggestive enough, because when you were Kumo you weren't usually clear enough and no matter who you were, in Kumo's humble opinion, you could _never_ be suggestive enough.

Shimenawa gave another short laugh at that, this one sounding much more comfortable, and leaned his face against Kumo's dark hair. It looked like he might need a re-dye soon; the silver-white roots were showing rather plainly. If he thought about it, Shimenawa realized, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen Kumo without his hair dyed...

"Well," he said with a grin, absently running a finger up and down Kumo's back, "I did get you a couple presents that _aren't _me, so I hope they aren't _too _terribly disappointing. Of course, you're welcome to me too," he added with a smirk, impulsively kissing the man's black locks.

"I dunno, Sunshine. It's kinda hard to top you," Kumo laughed in response, pause, then grinned stupidly before he playfully nibbled at Shimenawa's neck. "...unless you're me," he amended, looking fairly extremely pleased with himself for having come up with something so clever. Then again, he'd had an awful lot of practice.

Shimenawa's only respone to the comment was to turn bright red.

"Oh, but-- _damnit_," Kumo sighed, pulling away to smack himself on the forehead, "I set myself up all the damn time, Sunshine. You know that? You gotta start stopping me from setting myself up. We should probably go wake the boys up now and get presents opened and stuff. Because, uh, something I got Kakashi might... might... er... _expire_ if we leave it in the box too long."

"...expire?" Shimenawa blinked, the mad blush crossing his face fading slightly as he raised an eyebrow. "What do you... hm. Well, okay. Let me get my presents out of the closet." He leaned over to give Kumo one last peck on the cheek before rising from the bed.

Kumo watched him go with a slightly longing sigh before he shook his head and glared at the medium-sized box he had left on the floor. All the other presents were in his backpack, but that one he'd been carefully carrying by hand. He crawled back out of bed as well, shouldering his backpack once more before very slowly lifting the other box from the floor.

"Got everything, Sunshine?"

Shimenawa, now clutching a number of festively-wrapped parcels to his chest, turned around to give Kumo a smile and a nod.

"Shall we?"

-----

Meanwhile, in the living room, Kakashi was curled up among the mussed sheets of the couch bed, watching Obito be decidedly antsy. The other boy had woken him up quite early, insisting that because it was Christmas he wasn't allowed to go back to sleep. Kakashi wasn't exactly clear what was so special about Christmas morning, but it was what Obito wanted so he played along sportingly, batting his tail lightly against the mattress and biting back yawns as he tried to resist the temptation to just flop down on top of his pillow again.

Christmas was always like this for Obito. Well, maybe not _exactly_ like this. This was a definite step up from his usual Christmas. But generally speaking, Christmas tended to follow a pattern for Obito. Wake up hours before dawn, possibly skipping sleep on Christmas Eve altogether, sneak out his bedroom window or through other creative ways should the bedroom window be inaccessible for whatever reason, make a mad dash for Shimenawa-sensei's place, and lurk either inside or outside (Obito preferred outside because he could sit under Shimenawa's window and watch in like a good little stalker) until Shimenawa woke up so they could open presents. He remembered that he'd been doing it for so long, when he started he'd needed a box to put under his window so that he was tall enough to climb out.

He couldn't really sit still, pacing around the living room, glancing at the tree now and again as though it might spawn presents all on its own if he checked it enough, vigilantly listening for signs of life in Shimenawa's bedroom. He looked about ready to unwind before, mercifully, the floor in Shimenawa's room creaked and the doorknob jiggled as someone went to open the door. Obito all but tackled Kakashi to the bed with glee.

"Sensei's awake!" he declared in his not-indoor voice, cuddling Kakashi with all the force of a drive-by shooting, "We get to open presents now, Kakashi!"

Kakashi was startled a little more awake at the sudden onslaught, returning the other boy's cuddles somewhat bemusedly. Obito was _never _this happy to be awake in the morning. Maybe he was secretly a clone Obito, Kakashi's brain helpfully suggested as he woke up a little more. Or maybe the time axis of the universe was out of alignment and they were going backwards so it was actually nighttime. Or... maybe Obito just really liked presents? Maybe Kakashi should give him more presents.

He looked over at the fairy lights on the Christmas tree and asked them to twinkle a little harder.

"Merry Christmas," Shimenawa said, smiling, as he stepped into the living room with presents in tow.

"Merry Christmas!" Obito sang back, rolling over Kakashi again to hop off the couch bed, dragging the kitsune with him. "Oh! Kumo's back," he noticed aloud, not exactly upset about this development but a little bit less enthusiastic than he might have been for someone who was not-Kumo. But hey! Kumo's presence meant more presents! Obito could definitely handle that.

"Can we open presents now, Sensei?" he pestered, pulling Kakashi over to the tree with him, "We can open presents now, right?"

"At least let me put these down under the tree first," Shimenawa said with a laugh, carrying over the presents in his hands to do just that. There were already a couple small ones sitting under the tree, but the doctor had kept most of them in his closet, the same way he always did. (After all these years, Obito had surely figured out where Shimenawa was hiding them, but he had to give the boy credit for one thing; Obito never snooped. At least not since the one year when Shimenawa pouted him to death about it.)

Something had roused Kakashi's attention as he came more fully awake; he looked a little confused as he glanced around, gaze finally settling on the newly-returned Kumo as the man walked into the room.

Kumo waved to the boys as he entered the room himself, carefully setting the one box in his hands back down before unceremoniously dumping the contents of his backpack out. He caught his weapon stash and wad of clean but crumpled clothing before they joined the presents under the tree and shoved those back into the bag.

"Have at it, then, boys," he grinned, gesturing to the presents, "Just save that one I put down for last."

Several minutes of paper-shredding and miscellaneous exclamations of delight, all but one of the presents were opened and there was wrapping paper scattered all the way into the kitchen. Obito was very, _very_ content with his hoard. He'd gotten everything from snack foods to comic books and a cookbook and _socks_, and, oh, a DVD called Zombie Ninjas from Mars (that Obito raved about for at least ten minutes) to a full cutlery set from Kumo (he was beginning to get the hint, honest) and when he'd pouted about not getting anything from his boyfriend, a box of fresh taiyaki appeared all on its own from the back of the Christmas tree.

Shimenawa found himself with a '#1 Mom' apron from Obito along with a specially framed picture of Obito and Kakashi--it looked as though Obito had taken the picture himself because the two of them were awfully close to the camera in the shot, but it was the thought that counted? And it seemed as though Obito had cut-and-pasted a photo of Kumo passed out and drooling onto his pillow into the corner of the picture. From Kumo he received a few slips of paper reading 'something you can't open in front of the boys', punctuated with a doodle of a little, grinning demon.

Kumo unwrapped his chocolate with some measure of happiness and his nylon shirts with absolute glee (Shimenawa couldn't help blushing again) and beamed over every one of the CDs Obito had bought him.

Kakashi, meanwhile, discovered that he had been given a comforter with little foxes all over it and the candy canes he'd been wondering about since Obito and Shimenawa went shopping from Obito, and pretty marbles and a fuzzy sweater from Shimenawa. He hadn't seemed to have gotten anything from Kumo, but then there was still that last box. It had a little tag on it that might had been his name, but it was written in Kumo-scrawl so it was hard to tell.

"It smells like cat," he noted curiously, completely ruining the sense of suspense in the rest of the room as he reached out to pull off the festively-wrapped, hole-ridden lid.

And sure enough, curled up in the box atop a couple of towels was a tiny, greyish tabby kitten, not any bigger than Kakashi's two hands put together and quite completely as fluffy as his tail. It uncurled as the light met its eyes, blinking open two big brown orbs to stare up at the very, very wide mismatched pair regarding it with some wonder from above the box. Then it started making tiny mewls, rising up on its stubby, fuzzy paws to start toward the box's edge.

Kakashi glanced up at Kumo with very wide eyes, looking hesitant, like he wasn't sure whether he was allowed to touch.

"Go on. She's all yours. Give her a name or something," Kumo reassured with a light laugh that startled the small creature, making her turn her head in the general direction of the sound. But Kumo was far too big and tall and far away for the little kitten to see so she turned her attention back to Kakashi. She made wanting to be held cries and pawed the side of the box, not quite heavy enough to tip it over. And she made slightly distressed, lonely-and-starting-to-get-cold colors, because her box had been warm until the lid was taken off but now she was beginning to feel a chill. Kittens weren't terribly good at regulating their own body temperatures.

Blinking down at her a little uncertainly, Kakashi reached a hand into the box for the kitten to sniff a moment, and then another hand in to carefully pick her up. He nestled her against his chest in the crook of one elbow and started petting the tiny body with a finger; before long, he could feel little pinpricks through his clothes as she began contentedly kneading her claws.

"...I really have a cat?" Somehow this was a surprising and unexpected development. He looked back up at Kumo for confirmation again, not entirely sure this was actually happening in the real world, not just his head.

"Yeah, you do," Kumo nodded, "Heard you weren't a dog person, and the poor thing really needed a good home." And it was part wish-fulfillment on Kumo's part. He'd always wanted a puppy or kitten as a child, but god forbid his dad ever contribute to letting him enjoy a solitary moment in his life.

"So," he smiled, slipping his arm around Shimenawa's waist as he spoke, "Do you know what you're going to call her, Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked down at the little kitten for a while longer, stroking her soft, downy fur with a finger and regarding her thoughtfully. She'd settled down against his body after just these few short moments, quieting and closing her eyes to snuggle against his warmth sleepily. Even her claws had ceased their kneading; only her stubby kitten-tail continued to pad a faint, slow rhythm against the side of his pajama-clad arm.

She was really quite well-mannered, for a kitten.

"Umm... Lady," he decided with a sudden smile, feeling even more inordinately happy than he had last night when cleaning lady's pig had come to play. This kitty was _his._

"Lady?" Kumo repeated, glancing at Shimenawa just to see his reaction, "That's a good name. Well, then, welcome to the family, Lady." The kitten, warm and content, was fast asleep and so didn't respond. She barely even shifted when Obito prodded her experimentally on the leg, only moved the limb out of reach and tucked her small face against Kakashi's chest before she was out like a light again.

"...she's kind of cute, I guess," Obito admitted grudgingly, hugging his Zombie Ninjas from Mars DVD to his chest.

Shimenawa grinned a little awkwardly and scratched his head, unable to help feeling a little surprised. So Kakashi had a cat... which was to say that Kakashi and _he _now had a cat, because as enamored as Kakashi might be with the animal (and it was undeniably adorable how he was cradling it now, scratching behind its tiny ears and looking about as pleased as Shimenawa had ever seen him), the doctor could pretty much guess how often he would remember to feed it and to whom the responsibility was going to fall in his place.

Ah well... it was, admittedly, a very adorable little cat.

"She seems to have taken to you already," he observed as he walked over to crouch down next to Kakashi and lightly run a finger over the kitten's fur himself. It was downy-soft. Such a fragile little thing...

"You'll have to be really careful with her, you know, right?" he said seriously to Kakashi. "You could hurt her really easily. Even just by squeezing too hard..."

"I _know _that, Sensei." The kitsune pouted at him a little, looking slightly offended. Shimenawa responded with a laugh and a quick ruffle of his hair.

"Okay then. You can never be too sure."

The four of them enjoyed looking over their presents and laughing and teasing each other and eventually Shimenawa was cajoled into trying on his new apron, but both Kakashi and Obito were looking increasingly sleepy. Obito, however, was too stubborn to sleep and like hell Kakashi was going to bed with the new kitten without him. Catching on, Kumo put up a large pretense of being exhausted as well and told the boys to go to sleep, dragging Shimenawa to the bedroom. There were still more presents for his Sunshine to unwrap, after all.

Lady was the one who woke up first, some time mid-afternoon. She walked all over Obito's face trying to get to Kakashi's head, but somehow the former Uchiha slept through little paws stepping on his cheeks and eyes. The kitten was a little bit hungry, but mostly she wanted to prove to her mommy that she was a big girl now. Settling herself down on top of some of Kakashi's hair, she put one paw down on Kakashi's forehead and began to groom the side of his face with her little, barely scratchy tongue.

Kakashi frowned slightly as he became aware of something warm and wet rubbing against one of his cheeks, and he made a little noise low in his throat as he cracked an eye open, beginning to return to wakefulness. Oh -- it was Lady. A sleepy smile crossed his face as he reached up to pet her, the idea that she might want something not quite registering yet.

Lady pushed her head against his hand, nuzzling it briefly before going back to her very serious work, pushing down a fraction harder on his head (which wasn't very much when you were a kitten the size of someone's cupped hands) to hold him still. She tried to clean his eyebrows, which wasn't quite as problematic as when she decided his eyes needed cleaning as well.

"Nn--" When tongue met eyelid, Kakashi nudged her off his face automatically as he started to uncurl from Obito and sat up, only to have little claws stick in his hair so that he now had a kitten riding on his head. He blinked upward automatically, tilting his chin a little, but of course there was no way he could actually see her.

Obito's eyes were open at that point and he was wondering why his eyeball hurt. That passed after a moment, and he squinted up at Kakashi, thinking of all the things he could be saying. Like, 'Good morning'. Or 'Merry Christmas'. Or 'Come down here and let's make mad, passionate boy-love'. But no, instead he found himself saying, still sounding half-awake.

"...Kakashi? 's... 's that a... what's the cat doing on your head...?"

Lady was busying herself with making a nest of Kakashi's hair, kneading his scalp to get it all comfortable for her.

"I guess she's... ow." Kakashi's gaze was still trained upward, perhaps hoping for a glimpse of protruding paws or tail. He trailed off midsentence, however, as he realized he didn't really know _what _she was doing; the faint gentle contented-maybe-slightly-hungry colors he could sense from her were not particularly enlightening.

"...hanging out?" he proposed quizzically.

"...on your _head_?" Obito blinked, then shrugged and yawned, snuggling his cheek into his pillow, "Come back to bed, Kakashi We have to start a tradition of Christmas cuddles and possibly Christmas being-naked-under-the-covers-together."

Lady inched forward on Kakashi's head, completely oblivious to Obito's words, and dangled her paws to where Kakashi could maybe see them. She sent him a few colors that were polite and quiet but definitely hungry, along with a little yawning mewl that begged for attention and food. Possibly warm cream. Yes, she agreed with herself, and made another tiny kitten sound to confirm that she definitely would like some warm cream.

Kakashi reached up to poke at one of the paws, debating to himself with a slight, thoughtful frown. Obito wanted to cuddle... but Lady was hungry. But Obito... but it was his kitty and he needed to take care of her but, but _cuddles_, with _Obito, _but...

"Um... Lady's hungry," he said with a mournful sigh. He jostled the little kitten slightly as he leaned over to give Obito a kiss, nuzzling his face for just a moment before turning to rise from the bed. "So... I'll find her food and... _then _we can have cuddles?" he requested, looking back with his best pleading expression. "...And naked-under-the-covers. And stuff."

Obito made a part glowering, part pouting, part disappointed, part sad, and part angry expression. The result was that he looked somewhat confused and a little bit shocked and maybe a little like he'd stubbed his toe.

"Fine," he sighed, being as good of a sport as he could manage as he flopped back down onto the bed and pulled the covers over his head. Stupid Kumo. Stupid Kumo and his kittens.

Kakashi looked a little unsure of himself at the other boy's reaction, but, well, his kitty was hungry, and it just wasn't nice to make things go hungry. He and Lady departed to the kitchen looking for the shopping bag full of food Kumo had brought, not to mention... there _was _a carton of cream in the fridge still, wasn't there...?

Once in the kitchen, Lady hopped down from Kakashi's head, landing on the kitchen table. She paced around in a circle once, then sat down, watching Kakashi expectantly. Once she saw that he was, in fact, looking for food, she busied herself with cleaning herself, daintily licking her front paws one after another. Humming contentedly, Kakashi set out some cat food for her atop the table and then put a saucer of cream into the microwave to warm for a second or two, tail swishing around his legs as he moved to and fro in the kitchen. He set down the saucer and afterwards supposed some water was in order too; after he'd taken care of that, he stooped to rest his chin atop the table and pet the little kitten as she lapped at her food, smiling. A moment or three later he bounced back off to the living room to pounce on Obito. The lump of blankets that was Obito seemed to perk at being pounced upon, arms wrapping around Kakashi for immediate snuggling.

"Welcome back!" Obito grinned, squirming his way out from under the covers. "Now, about that naked thing..."

However, the moment Lady realized Kakashi had left her, she stopped eating and began to cry pitiful little mewls, sending scared and distressed colors out because she could no longer see her mommy.

Kakashi looked back toward the kitchen automatically, seeming rather distressed himself. He really wanted to stay here with Obito, but he couldn't leave his kitty to be scared...

"Um..." He glanced over at Obito again with an apologetic sort of frown, looking like he expected to be scolded.

"Oh for the love of--" Obito rolled his eyes and shoved his head back under the covers, "Go do whatever you want."

The kitsune stared down at Obito's sheet-covered form until he couldn't ignore the pitiful cries from the other room anymore, and then returned unhappily to the kitchen.

"We made Obito mad," he informed the kitten, walking over to the table and plopping down in a chair next to her with a mournful sigh. As soon as Lady saw her mommy come back, she quieted, padding up to Kakashi. She stopped directly in front of him and pushed her head against his cheek, nuzzling him. She then put her paw over his mouth and leaned forward to lick his nose.

"...least _you're _not mad at me," Kakashi said, pouting a little as he scratched under the kitten's fuzzy chin with a single finger.

It wasn't exactly like having a dog, he decided with a sigh, but she was really quite wonderful in her own way. Lady purred with delight at the chin-scratch, nuzzling Kakashi once more before climbing onto his shoulders. She curled around his neck not entirely unlike a muff, then yawned. Settling down, she purred against Kakashi's neck and soon was well on her way to drifting back to sleep.

Kakashi had been sitting there a couple minutes, considering whether to go back into the living room or not, when the phone on the wall began to ring. He blinked at it for a second or three, watching it ring once, twice, thrice... Kakashi didn't usually touch the phone anymore, not after that one time when a patient's mom called and he sorta kinda didn't quite explain right and she thought he was on drugs and hung up all mad and Sensei got all embarrassed and Obito got mad at him. But. Well. No one else was answering it, and he was just sitting here staring at it...

"...hello?" he said hesitantly into the receiver, a few moments later.

"Umm-- hi..." The voice on the other end of the line sounded somehow sort of embarrassed. "This is Hayashi Tenzou... Is this Dr. Shimenawa's house? I was told that Kubutsu Kumo is staying over there..."

Kakashi paused for a second, frowning. Who-- ...oh wait, he meant Daddy. Of course. Kumo. Kakashi knew that. "Y...yeah, he is," the kitsune murmured into the receiver. He was afraid to talk too much in case he started saying things wrong again.

"Oh, great! Can I talk to him? Just tell him it's Tenzou, he knows me."

"Um, sure... let me find him..."

Kitten in tow and phone in hand, Kakashi padded down the hallway to the master bedroom, knocking softly on the door.

A chorus of extremely colorful swearing answered him, followed by the sound of something heavy, like a full grown, fairly muscular man, hitting the ground. A half minute later, Kumo was at the door, dressed in a sheet, carefully blocking the view to the rest of the bedroom with his body because, well, someone was still in there and there was no longer anything but pillows on the bed.

"...ah, yeah, Kakashi?" he coughed, turning an interesting shade of pale green to see his son on the other side of the door.

"Phone." Kakashi petted the kitten curled around his neck and smiled rather obliviously, handing over the receiver. "It's somebody named Tenzou."

After a second, however, he frowned, glancing down toward the sheet wrapped around Kumo's waist.

"Um, sorry... were you busy?" he apologized, blinking.

"Busy? Uh, of course not! Just. Uh. Sleeping. Thanks," Kumo grinned not-suspiciously-at-all, "I think your boyfriend misses you. Why don't you go see him? Love you, son! Okay. Later." The door closed again and Kumo carefully locked it once more. He cast an apologetic glance at Shimenawa, who seemed to be snickering a little, the jerk, and pointed at the phone. "Old army friend. This'll only take a few minutes, I swear." Then he brought the phone up to his ear.

"You still have some uncanny sort of timing, Tenzou," he laughed in a way of greeting, "Now to what do I owe the honor?"

"Hey, Kumo, you sound good!" The voice on the other end of the line was slightly teasing. "Oh, nothing special really... Just I'm on leave for a couple weeks and so I'm back in town right now. Thought if you had the time to spare, maybe sometime between now and New Year's we could get together for a drink or two. Celebrate the season and all that."

"Yeah, that sounds great," Kumo agreed quickly, partially because he'd honestly missed his friend and mostly because, well, Sunshine was waiting for him, "How about I meet you at the usual place tomorrow at four? Okay? Great. See you tomorrow!" He waited long enough for Tenzou to say a startled 'bye' before he hung up and dropped both the phone and the sheet, offering Shimenawa a slightly sheepish but mostly playful smile.

"Sorry about that, Sunshine. Now, how will I ever make it up to you...?"

"You really didn't need to hang up so fast on your... friend?" Shimenawa paused to raise an eyebrow on him, and then laughed a little, stretching luxuriously atop the rumpled, sheetless bed. Like Kumo, he was quite naked.

"But I'm sure you'll think of something," he surmised cheerfully, with an inviting tilt of the head. Mussed golden locks brushed against his eyelashes as he smiled.

"Mm, I think I have some 'I'm-sorry' massage oils around here somewhere," Kumo mused back, crawling back onto the bed. He reached over to the nightstand and found said massage oils, still bound together by thin plastic. He pulled the wrapping off and inspected each bottle.

"Now... Spearmint, cinnamon, or coffee?" Kumo read off the labels, then grinned, "Well, Sunshine, no matter which you pick you're going to smell delicious, and you know what happens then, right?"

"If it involves eating me up, I might have to laugh at you some more," Shimenawa warned, grinning and tugging the man down for a kiss as Kumo walked back over to the bed.

"Hm. I think I would like to be minty today," he decided brightly.

"It's crippling to laugh at a man who's undressed, Sunshine," Kumo commented lightly back as he set the other two bottles of massage oil down. He uncorked the remaining bottle with his teeth, possibly just to look cool, and poured a small amount of the fragrant oil into his palm. The cork and the bottle were set down on the nightstand as well, so that Kumo could evenly distribute the massage oil between his hands, smiling at Shimenawa now in a much more subdued and affectionate fashion.

"Lay down for me, Sunshine?"

Obediently, Shimenawa stretched out on his stomach, one sky-blue eye still lazily tracking Kumo's movements from below.

"You spoil me way too much," he said with a quiet laugh. "I'll have to find a way to make it up to you later..."

"Don't worry about me so much, Sunshine," Kumo smiled back as he brought his hands to Shimenawa's shoulder's, slowly working his way down, "I spoil myself plenty too. You don't think 'massaging Sunshine with scented oils' wasn't on my top ten list of things to do, or, well, dream about doing in great depth before I died?"

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," Shimenawa said, laughing a little as he gradually relaxed contentedly against the bed. He couldn't see too much of Kumo from this angle, but continued looking anyway regardless, watching the wiry, well-toned muscles move under Kumo's skin as the man moved back and forth.

"Mm..." He smiled a little as he inhaled deeply, taking in the sharp scent of spearmint. "Feels nice." After a little while, he let his eyes drift blissfully closed.

"Only bad part about this," he murmured, still smiling, "is you get to put your hands all over me, but I have to just lie here."

"I'm sure you'll suffer through it somehow," Kumo teased back with a slight shake of his head, "but if it bothers you _that_ much, Sunshine, I'm sure we can work something out later. I like coffee? And, uh. My. Hm... legs are sore. Think you can do anything about that?"

"I'd be happy to..." Shimenawa paused and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"_If _you give me another kiss," he concluded with a smirk.

"I'll give you better than that, Sunshine. I'll..." Kumo grinned, leaning in close to whisper something so completely lewd that even a dedicated porn writer would have blushed (so clearly his Sunshine had no chance; the doctor went bright red). Then he kissed Shimenawa as requested before reaching for more massage oil.

Christmas was only beginning for them.


End file.
